What was the last movie you saw?

[Jeffbert]

Operation Crossbow (1965) British intelligence finds evidence of Germans developing missiles to attack Britain. Fictionalized drama added to make film more interesting, etc., loosely based on the historic Operation Crossbow. I was big into WWII history years ago, but that was then.

So, the story centers around three guys who being Brits, also speak other European languages, and have physics, or chemistry degrees, who are sent into occupied lands to see if the Germans really are developing rocket weapons. This is because, to destroy the rocket sites, the RAF must divert its bombers from their normal targets, and fly farther into enemy territory, putting them in greater risk. One scientist dismisses to possibility altogether, but the guy in charge, decides that the danger is great enough to justify the mission.

1st Lt. John Curtis (George Peppard) is given the identity of a dead man, and sent into the field. To make things a bit more interesting, the dead guy's wife Nora (Sophia Loren) shows up, expecting to find her husband, and wanting his signature to take sole custody of their children.

8/10.

 

[Jeffbert]

Gangway for Tomorrow (1943) I seem to recall posting this already, but could not find it.

A carpool of people on their way to work at an aircraft factory, each tells his/her story. Strangely, the 1st to go, is the French woman who was an Underground / Resistance member. Working, singing in a café during the day, she sang the French National Anthem on the radio at night on the same frequency as HH's speech. The Gestapo had no difficulty in finding the owner of the voice.

2nd was race car driver Joe Dunham (Robert Ryan), who, in going for the checkered flag, was driving on a tire that was sure to fail. Seemeth to me, that he not only risked his own life, but others' also, for when that tire failed, he lost control of his car, and wrecked others. Still nothing was made of this.

3rd was a very intense story of prison warden Tom Burke (James Bell, 1st I have heard of him) who, himself threw the switch that electrocuted his own brother, just two, count 'em 2 minutes before the schedule and as the phone was ringing, with the Governor calling to postpone (at least) the execution.

4th, a small town woman, Mary Jones (Amelita Ward) elevated to MISS AMERICA, which she found was not quite what she had expected.

5th, Mr. Wellington (John Carradine), a boxcar riding hobo, who did not even know about the war.

This was one of the films shown on TCM's John Carridine day.

 

[KGeo777]

Dr. Crippen (1962)

Based on a famous murder case of the early 20th century. Donald Pleasence stars as the title character, who was hanged for poisoning his wife and burying her torso in the basement. (The rest of her body was never found. Apparently there's still some controversy about the case, so I'll just treat the film as fiction.)

In this version, Crippen is a meek little fellow hounded by his vulgar wife. She has lovers, and he has a mistress (Samantha Eggar.) Seems like an unlikely couple? Pleasence and Eggar actually look a lot like the pair in photographs of the trial.

This was a surprise--first--I never realized how Eggar looked in her 20s---and never thought I would see Pleasence in a bedroom scene with her either (he also did one in a 1970s Spanish film--forgot the name--it has Michael Dunn in it).
The vulgar wife became the actual wife of Vincent Price.

James Robertson Justice has a line in it which I remember:



"I dont know how they hoped to get away with it disguised as father and son. He's got a very feminine figure for a boy of 16, and he can't keep his hands off of her even in public."

 

[pogopossum]

Saw The Marvels with three friends.
Mixed feelings. The action stuff and effects were of the highest quality. And how could they not be from Marvel/Disney? The bonding of the three female leads was charming, but also somewhat overdone. The three, when they were not hugging, were all quite good. I appreciated that the actors each developed individual personalities and that Marvel did not assume that it was a white universe of superheroes. (Consistent with their print books.)
Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian described the lead trio as "an entertaining intergalactic ensemble". Peter Travers of ABC News similarly commended that "If there is such a thing as chemistry, Larson, Parris and Vellani have it. (from Wikipedia)
Samuel Jackson, while not given much to do, still adds depth to the proceedings.
The plot wandered, but plot is not what one goes to Marvel for. Most viewers will have seen the previous Ms. Marvel movie, but it's not a requirement, although a little useful to figure out what is going on. Enjoyed the consuming cats (you had to see it.) Overall. Not mindful entertainment. Diversionary release.

 

[Steve Harrison]

Watched Guy's Ritchie's The Covenant, about the bond between a US solider and his interpreter in Afghanistan (I had 22 hours on a plane to kill!). It was an entirely predictable, painting-by-numbers exercise, but well done with some excellent action sequences. Jake Gyllenhaal was pretty wooden, but to be fair it was a standard US noble soldier hero part that would have been a challenge for any actor. Dar Salim as the interpreter, on the other hand, stole the film with a terrific performance and gave the film some weight.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

The Fourth Victim (1971) (Spanish title: La última señora Anderson "The last Mrs. Anderson") (Italian title: In fondo all piscina "At the bottom of the pool")

Spanish/Italian suspense film. Fellow has been married and widowed three times in a period of three years, each time losing his wife to an accident and collecting a bunch of money from her life insurance. Looks very suspicious, doesn't it? He's put on trial for the last death, and is declared not guilty. A woman shows late at night in his swimming pool (where the most recent death took place) claiming to be a new neighbor. Romance blooms and they get married. But why does she vanish now and then? Who is it she calls on the phone secretly? And who is the other woman hanging around?

Don't expect a giallo. It's pretty much bloodless, and much more interested in a complex, twisty plot than in sensationalism. It takes a while to get going, but gets more interesting as it continues. Tries hard to emphasize that fact that it takes place in the UK, but the music, if nothing else (including the familiar high-pitched female voice singing without words) is strong proof that it's from the continent.

 

[KGeo777]

$100 000 FOR RINGO 1965- Richard Harrison is a drifter who is mistaken for a missing homesteader with an orphaned son living with Apaches. He meets a would-be bounty hunter (Fernando Sancho--the fat Spanish version of Richard Boone) and sets out to capture a nasty land baron. I liked the score more than the story.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Fiend (1980)

A glowing red blob of light goes into a grave and resurrects the fellow buried there. He uses his glowing red hands to strangle a woman who is there with her boyfriend. (He's gone off to get her a sweater or something.)

Cut to our resurrected fellow pulling a "for sale" sign off the lawn of a house and going inside.

Months later, he does the strangling with glowing red hands thing on another woman. When not doing this in order to avoid rotting away, he's a violin teacher.

The film makes up the ante by having him kill a little girl. Neighbor guys starts getting suspicious.

This is one of Maryland-based writer/director Don Dohler's ultra-cheap films. He was a guy who loved horror/science fiction movies and special effects and made his own poverty-stricken efforts. The results are just as amateurish as you'd expect, but you have to admire his "let's put on a show" spirit.

 

[Matteo]

Bullet Train (2022)
Dumb, over-the-top, action film that in parts was very funny.

Sometimes it's nice to watch these sort of films.

Despite it being "highlighted" on Netflix for some reason I thought it came out several years ago. Must be mixing it up with something else (though no idea what).

 

[KGeo777]

THE DON IS DEAD 1973 - Funny Godfather rip-off since the plot is essentially the same--a young mafioso wants out of the family business and gets sucked back in while the patriarchal figure gets wrecked by family intrigues. Anthony Quinn has the Brando role, Frederic Forrest has the Pacino part, and Robert Forster steps in for James Caan. Abe Vigoda and Al Letierri also appear to lend credibility and many other familiar mafioso cast members show up as well. Premiered 50 years ago.

 

[dask]

Fascinating film. Wished it were at least an hour longer. Now we need comparable docs on Leone and Peckinpah to complete the trilogy.

 

[alexvss]

The Departed (2006). A cop infiltrates the mafia and a mafioso infiltrates the police at the same time.

Directed by Martin Scorcese. It won five Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director. It is one of those ultra rare occasions that the member of the Academy voted right.

The acting is just phenomenal. The story, too; there are some plot twists in the second half that, oh boy, blew me away.

 

[alexvss]

Bullet Train (2022)
Dumb, over-the-top, action film that in parts was very funny.

Sometimes it's nice to watch these sort of films.

Despite it being "highlighted" on Netflix for some reason I thought it came out several years ago. Must be mixing it up with something else (though no idea what).

The same guys produced Nobody (2021) and Violent Night (2022). Just for you're in need of some more mindless action

 

[Randy M.]

I enjoyed Violent Night for what it was, silly, mindless, with touches of humor, and David Harbour in the role he was made for.

 

[Randy M.]

And now, for today's feature of misogyny and cultural appropriation:

The Disembodied (1957) dir. Walter Grauman; starring Paul Burke, Allison Hayes and several others who apparently had long careers even though I don’t remember seeing them.

It’s easy to imagine this movie concocted by a couple of producers on their third or fourth scotch, staring listlessly around the bar.

Joe: You know what I’d like to see, Larry?
Larry: No, Joe! What would you like to see?
Joe: Allison Hayes –!
Larry: Oooh, I like seeing Allison Hayes, too!
Joe: Not that – well, yes, that, but this time as a voodoo queen! And not just a voodoo queen but a voodoo queen in a strapless black bra and a slant skirt, a real high slant! And a bare midriff! Navel covered, of course!
Larry: Of course! Family movie, after all!
Larry & Joe: (pause! while considering Allison’s navel)
Joe: And she’d be dancing! In a jungle! A sensuous voodoo dance, like if voodoo were practiced in Tiki bars!
Larry: Maybe we could do that and make her 50 feet tall!
Joe: Hey, that’s a great idea, but maybe save that for her next picture!

Femme fatale Tonda (Hayes) is particularly fatale to the men around her. She wants to off her doctor husband and either blow the jungle with hunky Tom (Burke) or keep him there until a new plaything shows. And she’s adept at voodoo, with a local tribe at her beck and call.

Why The Disembodied you ask? Because she can move the essence of a healthy man into the body of a not so healthy man to keep him alive. Which of course is unhealthy for the original healthy guy, but works to keep Tom around while a friend of his recuperates from dying. And in this movie, only the natives are allowed to die.

Burke's career managed to survive this movie and I remember him as a staple in American TV shows well into the 1980s.

Poor Allison Hayes, forever stuck in B movies, quite good looking but in a hard-boiled sort of way usually playing a sort of B-list Jane Russell (C-list? was the B-list Russell actually Julie London?) but with the perk of sometimes being the bad girl. And good at being the bad girl, but usually surrounded with lackluster production, lousy writing and other actors trying to muddle through. Like in this movie.

 

[hitmouse]

Bullet Train (2022)
Dumb, over-the-top, action film that in parts was very funny.

Sometimes it's nice to watch these sort of films.

Despite it being "highlighted" on Netflix for some reason I thought it came out several years ago. Must be mixing it up with something else (though no idea what).

I think this is a very clever film. Not at all dumb. Well produced, good action, smart script, and very funny. Neatly subverts and sidesteps the cliche traps it could have fallen into at many points.

 

[KGeo777]

MORGIANA 1972 - After all the buzz about this Czech film as a quasi-Gothic horror I had to check it out and it was certainly memorable. Right from the opening, the visuals are so well presented--and the score is also really good. It goes from organ music to symphonic and at times it sounds Hammer-like. It is about a rejected sister who seeks to kill her more popular and pretty sibling and she poisons her slowly and all sorts of weird visions happen as a result of her act. Is it guilt? Is it madness?
I caught on to the motif about hair in the story--I noticed all the women either had hats or really fancy hair, or if servants they had thick healthy hair--which comes into play at the end when someone reveals their true "roots." It had Poe qualities as well. In fact, as I watched, I was thinking how good a Dracula movie would be if it copied the visual style of this film. And there is a nun who looks so creepy--she would be a perfect vampire for it. I wonder if Iron Curtain censorship rules contributed to how the story is resolved because other than a self-induced act (to put it vaguely), it seems like nothing really changes--unless it was all a dream?

If they were restricted by rules--it is still rather impressive that it comes together in a compelling way. There's some irony in the ending as well.

It has such a masterful use of visuals and sound. I don't think I have ever seen a Czech film before--I was expecting something on the cheap compared to what it turned out to be.

 

[Matteo]

I think this is a very clever film. Not at all dumb. Well produced, good action, smart script, and very funny. Neatly subverts and sidesteps the cliche traps it could have fallen into at many points.

Well...that's fair. I meant "dumb" as in "silly". It was smart - but thankfully not so smart that I was left wondering what was going on and how things connected (which I often am if I watch something at the end of long day...)*.

* moves to "Those moments when you realise how old you are" thread.

 

[alexvss]

Scary Movie (2000). A serial killer dressed as The Grim Reaper starts a killing spree on the teenagers that killed a man on the road a year before.

One of the funniest movies ever. It references a lot of Horror movies, especially I know What you Did Last Summer (1997) and obviously, Scream (1996). Watching it ten or so years after my first time made me able to catch many more references.

I don't remember the last time I saw a comedy. They don't make movies like this anymore.

Recommended.

 

[Jeffbert]

Hitler's Madman (1943) the final film (I recorded) on the John Carradine day at TCM.

Reinhard Heydrich (John Carradine) is just about the worst of the worst. He is the 'protector' of Czechoslovakia, though he obviously cares not for the lives of the conquered people.

Finally, the Czechs have had enough. Led by one of their own, who had fled to the UK before the conquest, he returned to lead the resistance. At 1st, the people of Lidice, were not inclined to act against their enemies, because of the 100 to 1 ration of deaths, demanded by the enemy. Knowing what would follow, they assassinated Heydrich anyway.

In the film, Heydrich on his deathbed, curses his own nation, predicting they will lose the war.

Myself, having been a history buff, especially WWII in Europe, though that was long ago, I am certain the filmmakers took what they call creative license or words to that effect with the deathbed scene.

Only one other name/face familiar to me, the woodsman Nepomuk, was portrayed by Edgar Kennedy.

8/10, though the brutality is mostly offscreen, still, intense.