Tonight!

At 6:45 & 9:15

Top 5 Top 5 Lists Related To, But Not Including, The Quiet Man

Top 5 John Ford Films That Are Not Westerns:

1. Young Mr. Lincoln (1939)
2. 7 Women (1966)
3. How Green Was My Valley (1941)
4. Mogambo (1953)
5. Donovan's Reef (1963)


Top 5 John Wayne Films That Are Not Directed By John Ford:

1. Rio Bravo (Howard Hawks, 1959)
2. Red River (Howard Hawks, 1948)
3. Hatari! (Howard Hawks, 1962)
4. Flying Leathernecks (Nicholas Ray, 1951)
5. True Grit (Henry Hathaway, 1969)


Top 5 Maureen O'Hara Films:

1. How Green Was My Valley (John Ford, 1941)
2. The Hunchback of Notre Dame (William Dieterle, 1939)
3. The Parent Trap (David Swift, 1961)
4. Rio Grande (John Ford, 1950)
5. Our Man in Havana (Carol Reed, 1959)


Top 5 Movies Set in Ireland:

1. The Wind that Shakes the Barley (Ken Loach, 2006)
2. The Crying Game (Neil Jordan, 1992)
3. Darby O'Gill & the Little People (Robert Stevenson, 1959)
4. Once (John Carney, 2006)
5. Michael Collins (Neil Jordan, 1996)


Top 5 Films of 1952:

1. Singin' In The Rain (Stanley Donen & Gene Kelly)
2. Ikiru (Akira Kurosawa)
3. Limelight (Charles Chaplin)
4. Othello (Orson Welles)
5. Bend of the River (Anthony Mann)

Links: The Quiet Man

Here's film critic Tag Gallagher's website, where you can download his excellent book on John Ford for free as a PDF. It's one of the best books about a director I've ever read.

A 2002 essay about The Quiet Man from EIRE-IRELAND: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Irish Studies.

The next time you're in Ireland, be sure to check out the Quiet Man Cottage Museum on Circular Road in the town of Cong in County Mayo. "The Wayne Family visited. . . so can you!"

Coming Attractions: The Quiet Man

Click me!

St Patrick's Day!  Wednesday, March 17th at 6:45 and 9:15.

Giveaways: Darby O'Gill and the Little People DVD courtesy of Scarecrow Video and a gift certificate to Cinema Books, respectively.

See you there!

Tonight!

At 7:00 & 9:15

Top 5 Top 5 Lists Related To, But Not Including Steamboat Bill Jr

Top 5 Buster Keaton Movies I Haven't Seen Yet:

1. The Cameraman (Edward Sedgwick, 1928)
2. The Navigator (Donald Crisp & Buster Keaton, 1924)
3. Go West (Buster Keaton, 1925)
4. Battling Butler (Buster Keaton, 1926)
5. Spite Marriage (Edward Sedgwick, 1929)


Top 5 Metro Classics Set on a Boat:

1. The Lady Eve (Preston Sturges, 1941)
2. The Immigrant (Charles Chaplin, 1917)
3. Fitzcarraldo (Werner Herzog, 1982)
4. Shall We Dance (Mark Sandrich, 1937)
5. Aguirre, the Wrath of God (Werner Herzog, 1972)


Top 5 Movies Featuring Big Storms:

1. Seven Samurai (Akira Kurosawa, 1954)
2. The Wizard of Oz (Victor Fleming, 1939)
3. Magnolia (Paul Thomas Anderson, 1999)
4. Shock Corridor (Samuel Fuller, 1963)
5. Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea (Hayao Miyazaki, 2008)


Top 5 Movies About Fathers and Sons:

1. Ran (Akira Kurosawa, 1985)
2. The Godfather, Part II (Francis Ford Coppola, 1974)
3. The Royal Tenenbaums (Wes Anderson, 2001)
4. The Lion in Winter (Anthony Harvey, 1968)
5. How Green Was My Valley (John Ford, 1941)


Top 5 Movies From 1928 That I Haven't Seen Yet:

1. The Crowd (King Vidor)
2. The Wind (Victor Sjöström)
3. October (Sergei Eisenstein)
4. The Docks of New York (Josef von Sternberg)
5. Four Sons (John Ford)

Links: Steamboat Bill, Jr

A comprehensive list of the film's Northern California shooting locations can be found at Film in America.

Jim Emerson breaks down the Beauty of Buster.


And finally, the International Buster Keaton Society, a.k.a. the Damfinos, can be found proselytizing here.

Enjoy!

Let's Get Nautical

Watching The Lady Eve last Wednesday I was reminded time and again of the brothers Marx.  Not only because both Sturges and the Marxes are ribald and witty comedians of the highest order, or because the fine Robert Greig shows up as a butler in both Eve and Animal Crackers, but because of the setting aboard an ocean liner.  My second favorite Marx film, the gangster spoof Monkey Business, spends a majority of its screen time aboard a boat where the brothers are stowaways, while the courtship of Charlie and Jean in The Lady Eve does the same.  I have watched Monkey Business dozens of times since childhood and I think the reason I gravitate to it more than any other Marx film, Duck Soup withstanding, is that setting.  Sure, the wonderful stateroom scene which is probably one of the best moments in the Marx's career is found in A Night at the Opera and the oceanic scenes are the best in that picture, but they just don't spend enough time on that damn boat!  There is something so grand and otherworldly about seeing these opulent liners with their elegant ladies and refined gentlemen, albeit being bombarded with the anarchy of Groucho and the gang, that transports me.  I long for that sense of style.

The more I got to thinking about it, the more I realized how many of my favorite comedies take place on boats.  Some of which just happen to be former Metro Classics.  For example:

Ballet star Pete Peters falls ever-so gracefully for the beautiful Linda Keene aboard a boat sailing for New York in the Astaire and Rogers musical Shall We Dance.

The gold-digging Lorelei and Dorothy get wined and dined aboard a cruise ship in Howard Hawks's hilarious Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.  Hey look Charles Coburn's here too!

Charlie Chaplin and Edna Purviance play downtrodden lovers aboard an America-bound liner in the Immigrant, Chaplin's best short.

And then there is Buster Keaton.  Keaton was a man obsessed with the mechanics of filmmaking and his love of technology and manufactured objects permeates his films.  Boats, being huge monuments of man's ingenuity and achievement, appear time and again in Keaton's work, not just in Steamboat Bill, Jr.  There is the great feature The Navigator where Buster and the gorgeous Kathryn McGuire play two rich fops left alone on a large cruiser ship.  The movie is basically a sustained hour-length gag of Buster vs The Boat.  And then of course there is the Boat, a delightful little short where Buster builds the titular star, a rickety little vessel named the Damfino.

Steamboat Bill, Jr doesn't actually spend that much time on the boat.  Not nearly as much as the Navigator or The Boat, but its profound impact upon the future of oceanic comedies was solidified during the very year it was released when two young upstart animators, Ub Iwerks and Walter Disney, spoofed Steamboat Bill, Jr with a revolutionary sound cartoon starring a plucky little mouse named Mickey.  Steamboat Willie is not the best animated short of all time, nor the best Disney short.  Hell, it's not even the best Mickey short (my money's on the fantastic Two-Gun Mickey) but it is undeniably one of the most important and influential films in cinema history.  Not only did it usher in an artistic and commercial media giant, it galvanized the entire animation industry to step up its game and provided live-action films of the era with a template for what sound could achieve in motion pictures. 

The question of Steamboat Willie's rights has been bandied about for quite awhile now.  Many think that the film has entered the public domain.  Unfortunately we're too afraid of the Disney legal department to try and screen the film before Wednesday's Keaton extravaganza (plus, we're running two shorts before the feature anyway) so I humbly present this pre-game warm-up to you, our loyal readers.  Put on your cravat, your top hat and tails, and take a stroll on the observation deck.  Toot toot!

Coming Attractions: Steamboat Bill Jr

Playing with Cops and The Play House.

Wednesday, March 10 at 7 & 9:15 PM.

Giveaways: The General DVD courtesy of Scarecrow Video and a Gift certificate to Cinema Books.

Tonight!

At 7 & 9 PM

Top 5 Top 5 Lists Related To, But Not Including The Lady Eve

Top 5 Preston Sturges Films I Haven't Seen Yet:

1. Remember the Night (Mitchell Leisen, 1940)
2. Hail the Conquering Hero (Preston Sturges, 1944)
3. The Invisible Man (James Whale, 1933)
4. Imitation of Life (John Stahl, 1934)
5. Christmas in July (Preston Sturges, 1940)


Top 5 Barbara Stanwyck Films:

1. Double Indemnity (Billy Wilder, 1944)
2. Ball of Fire (Howard Hawks, 1941)
3. Forty Guns (Samuel Fuller, 1957)
4. Baby Face (Alfred E. Green, 1933)
5. Clash By Night (Fritz Lang, 1952)


Top 5 Henry Fonda Films Not Directed By John Ford:

1. Once Upon a Time in the West (Sergio Leone, 1968)
2. The Ox-Bow Incident (William Wellman, 1943)
3. Jezebel (William Wyler, 1938)
4. Advise & Consent (Otto Preminger, 1962)
5. 12 Angry Men (Sidney Lumet, 1957)


Top 5 Henry Fonda Films Directed By John Ford:

1. Young Mr. Lincoln (1939)
2. My Darling Clementine (1946)
3. Fort Apache (1948)
4. The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
5. Drums Along the Mohawk (1939)


Top 5 Films of 1941:

1. Citizen Kane (Orson Welles)
2. Suspicion (Alfred Hitchcock)
3. How Green Was My Valley (John Ford)
4. The Shanghai Gesture (Josef von Sternberg)
5. The Maltese Falcon (John Huston)

Links: The Lady Eve

James Harvey, author of the books Movie Love in the 50s and Romantic Comedy in Hollywood: from Lubitsch to Sturges, writes about The Lady Eve for Criterion.

Film Reference has an extensive bibliography on the film, along with a short essay by the late critic Robin Wood comparing it to, among other things, Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo.

Peter Tonguette writes about Sturges and The Lady Eve for Senses of Cinema.

Finally, we have Roger Ebert's Great Movies review.

The 30 Greatest Preston Sturges Character Names

1. Trudy Kockenlocker (The Miracle of Morgan's Creek)
2. Luisa 'Lu" Ginglebuscher (The Good Fairy)
3. Judge Alfalfa J. O'Toole (The Beautiful Blonde From Bashful Bend)
4. Wife of Wienie King (The Palm Beach Story)
5. Homer Quimby (The Great Moment)
6. Harold Diddlebock (The Sin of Harold Diddlebock)
7. Algernon McNiff (The Sin of Harold Diddlebock)
8. Jasper Hawkins (Never Say Die)
9. Dr. Zodiac Z. Zippe (Hotel Haywire)
10. Norval Jones (The Miracle of Morgan's Creek)


11. Sgt. Heppelfinger (Hail the Conquering Hero)
12. James R. Smoke (The Sin of Harold Diddlebock)
13. Hugo Standoff (Unfaithfully Yours)
14. E. J. Waggleberry (The Sin of Harold Diddlebock)
15. Dr. Max Sporum (The Good Fairy)
16. Charles Poncefort Pike (The Lady Eve)
17. The Princess Centimillia (The Palm Beach Story)
18. Woodrow Lafayette Pershing Truesmith (Hail the Conquering Hero)
19. Mr. Julius Hingleman (The Beautiful Blonde From Bashful Bend)
20. Ursula Kornheiser (Sullivan's Travels)


21. Juno Marko (Never Say Die)
22. Mayor Wilfred T. Tillinghast (The Great McGinty)
23. Blackie Jobero (The Beautiful Blonde From Bashful Bend)
24. Poppa Ingleborg (Never Say Die)
25. Maurice Schlapkohl (The Good Fairy)
26. Ambrose 'Muggsy' Murgatroyd (The Lady Eve)
27. Mr. Johnny Valdelle (Sullivan's Travels)
28. Mayor Everett D. Noble (Hail the Conquering Hero)
29. Formfit Franklin (The Sin of Harold Diddlebock)
30. John D. Hackensacker III (The Palm Beach Story)

Coming Attractions: The Lady Eve

Wednesday, March 3rd at 7 & 9 PM

Giveaways: Sullivan's Travels DVD courtesy of Scarecrow Video and a gift certificate to Cinema Books respectively.

See you there!