What Is The Last Film You Watched? (Older Films)

[publicist 4,643]

These at least have a broad consensus.

[Sweeping Strings 2,342]

Rosemary's Baby - my first time seeing this classic supernatural thriller. It still has the power to unsettle, 50 years on ... it reminded me of The Exorcist with the slow-building 'terrible things are happening to ordinary people in an everyday domesticated setting' atmosphere. Plus you're never quite sure if Rosemary HAS been chosen by a coven of devil-worshippers to bring the child of Satan into the world, or if she's in the grip of post-natal depression. 

Fascinated to hear in the DVD's special features that Robert Redford was amongst those considered for the John Cassavetes part ... it would've subverted his blonde blue-eyed heart-throb image quite effectively back then.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

9 hours ago, TGP said:

 

This is the most disgraceful post I've ever seen on JWFan.  I am ashamed to be a member here. 

Well isnt that special. 

8 hours ago, Cherry Pie That'll Kill Ya said:

Worse than his arguably illegal "assassinate the President" posts?

There isn't anything illegal about those posts.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Are you sure you aren't on some Secret Service list?

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Yeah I'd hate for JWfan to be targeted by the federal government because of some petty political zealotry.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

1 minute ago, Cherry Pie That'll Kill Ya said:

Yeah I'd hate for JWfan to be targeted by the federal government because of some petty political zealotry.

Your obsession with our pos misgynistic traitorous president is bizarre. Dont you have compromised leaders of your own

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

They changed PM's again last week.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

That wasn't what I meant! It's just irresponsible to put this whole website at stake by making written threats against the chief executive of the federal government, no matter who occupies the office.

[Nick Parker 3,040]

5 minutes ago, Cherry Pie That'll Kill Ya said:

That wasn't what I meant! It's just irresponsible to put this whole website at stake by making written threats against the chief executive of the federal government, no matter who occupies the office.

 

Your very presence here puts this website at stake: one more Other Topics thread from you and we'll be under FBI investigation for Australian collusion!

[JoeinAR 1,949]

I never threatened him Drax. I will dance a jig if something bad happens to him. 

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

1 minute ago, Nick Parker said:

 

Your very presence here puts this website at stake: one more Other Topics thread from you and we'll be under FBI investigation for Australian collusion!

 

My threads about erectile dysfunction, hypochondria and post count could make me a 'person of interest'...

[Jurassic Shark 12,008]

I'll do a mambo, preferably a horizontal one.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

I'd be very sad...

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

7 minutes ago, JoeinAR said:

I never threatened him Drax. I will dance a jig if something bad happens to him. 

 

I'll get drunk and wank off in public.

[Holko 9,491]

Alrighty then.

 

 

 

I got the second Fábri boxset, so why not continue rating them?

 

Dúvad (The Brute) (1960)

 

A temperamental farmer with many throwaway lovers lusts after the most beautiful girl in the village, they get together then he discards her like all the rest. Years later when they meet again, he realises she meant more to him, and she realises even though she has a husband and son now that she still has fond memories of their short time together. The farmer wants her again and gets violent, but she's not having it and shoots him to defend her husband the end.

 

 

It's basically the sister movie of Merry Go-Round, but just not as good somehow. It does have a scene where the brute chugs a full bottle of Schnapps on a horse with a ram on his back, then proceeds to jump the fence in the same configuration, so it's got that going for it, which is nice.

 

3.5/10

[JoeinAR 1,949]

8 minutes ago, Cherry Pie That'll Kill Ya said:

I'd be very sad...

I'll be happy that you're sad but that has less to do about you and more about him

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Just now, JoeinAR said:

I'll be happy that you're sad but that has less to do about you and more about him

 

[JoeinAR 1,949]

Alrighty then for Holko back to topic.

 

One of my favorite b&w b films ironically the poster is in color.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

Next up Cult of the Cobra.

[Marian Schedenig 8,153]

19 hours ago, Richard said:

The "epilogue" should have remained, and the Xander Berkeley outtake is a hoot!

 

 

There's a Xander Berkeley outtake!?

[Nick1Ø66 4,687]

6 hours ago, Stefancos said:

 

I'll get drunk and wank off in public.

 

Would anyone notice in Holland?

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Why are Europeans such a sexual people? I don't remember that in old war footage.

[Nick Parker 3,040]

7 minutes ago, Cherry Pie That'll Kill Ya said:

Why are Europeans such a sexual people? I don't remember that in old war footage.

 

The nice guys who would sacrifice themselves for the greater good like betas went off to fight the war, while the self-preserving jerks stayed behind and got all of the women. This is the way of things (from my study at JWFan University).

[Naïve Old Fart 9,488]

9 hours ago, Marian Schedenig said:

 

 

There's a Xander Berkeley outtake!?

Oh, yeah. Its on the R2 DVD. Funny as.

[Marian Schedenig 8,153]

7 hours ago, Richard said:

Oh, yeah. Its on the R2 DVD. Funny as.

 

Must check if it's on the Blu, too. Although I should still have the DVD somewhere as well (possibly the R1 though).

 

Berkeley has a quite small role in this, and not even one that lets him do much. But there's something about his performance that makes it quite memorable, and I'm always happy when he shows up in something.

[Matt C 452]

On 9/5/2018 at 7:41 PM, Koray Savas said:

Wonderful sci-fi film that doesn’t get the love it deserves. Released today, it would be a Netflix film! Amirite @Alexcremers?

 

It's too good to be a Netflix original. I imagine if it were to be made today, it would be produced by Alcon and released by Warner Brothers, i.e. Blade Runner 2049. Or released through a smaller label like Bleeker, IFC Films or Lionsgate.

[A24 4,323]

Or BH Tilt (Upgrade).

[Holko 9,491]

Húsz óra (Twenty Hours) (1965)

 

A reporter arrives in a village and talks with many residents to uncover life and events in the last 20 years. Everyone tells him about different events in different times in their own subjective ways, slowly uncovering the story of 4 old friends whose relationships change radically in those eventful decades; they all have different roles to play in the land redistribution of '45, the Secret Police harassments and general hubbub around farmers' collectives in '52, the revolutionary air of '56 and the consolidations of the 60s. All 4 do good and bad things, the most important ones we see from more points of views, all valid, and even in the reporter's time, '65, all have their lasting effects.

 

 

It's a bold one from multiple perspectives: firstly, the story is not a breezy one to begin with - the actions of multiple people impacting and forming their relationships through 20 years - but it's told in an unconventional way, through many flashbacks from different points of view, making it intentionally more difficult to piece together, but also easier to see the connections. Dialogues often overlap through scenes, we move from main to side characters, it was quite a thing to ask from general audiences back then to understand, even now I think I'll need a viewing or two more to put it all together. The Venice and Moscow film festivals seemed to like it.

Secondly, it indirectly criticises both the dictatorship of the 40s-50s and the seemingly more eased government of the 60s for being no better than the fascism of the 30s and 40s even though they boast to be a workers' movement. Regimes will always find a way to disrupt and toughen the life of the little man directly or indirectly, destroying friendships or lives, literally. It also criticizses the hypocrisy of harassing farmers for stocking flour for their starving children, branding them enemy of the people, while the (party member) village doctor has a whole bar with various drinks in his basement and listens to Piaf records. How the script got through the state censorship and wasn't banned, nobody knows. 

 

4/5, pretty good once one gets adjusted to its style of storytelling.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Invasion of the Body Snatchers, '56

 

You know, I might have just compliantly become a pod. Might have been easier that way. Kevin McCarthy was great - I need to see more of what he's done aside from Joe Dante movies.

[bollemanneke 3,334]

Pan.

 

I must admi' tha' I sor' of liked the first par', bu' then Tiger Lily 'ad to ruin the second one and the whole story just became cheesy and the plot needs some tweaking too. Some of the 'umour was all righ', but this flyboy certainly won't be watchin' the film again.

It took some time before the score got underway, but when it did, it was mostly brilliant. After all, what can go wrong when John Powell is asked to score a fairy-tale? Obviously, Hook's themes are better, but this score was nearly just as entertaining as Williams' effort.

[Holko 9,491]

Utószezon (Late Season) (1966)

 

 

In 1961, shaken by the Eichmann trial and a prank from his friends, an old apothecary goes up to Budapest for reminiscing. He is quite paranoid and gets many flashbacks (often overlapping, sometimes with made-up grotesque visions) of his working days in '44, while his fiends chase him down to take him home. When they finally stop him, he makes them put him on trial for the murder of his old bosses, then confesses when an old childhood friend, now (then) a military officer, asked him if he knew any more Jews in the city, he said he doesn't, unless his bosses are. That "unless" was enough for the regime to deport them and they were never seen again, and the apothecary still feels guilty and masochistic because of his lack of closure, and feels he has to be punished. After the make-believe trial with his friends, he has nightmares of the gas chambers and goes to court the next day, where they laugh at him and send him off. He lays in front of a train, but it changes tracks and he's left alive. Life goes on, but both authority and society denied closure and refused to confront what happened back then.

 

 

Again, it's bold in both themes and form: the film is full of jolly music and burlesque-esque speedups, along with freezeframes (a bit too much, probably). It plays the same game as society and authority, similarly to Professor Hannibal: pull a veil over the whole thing, a man suffering immensely over self-reproach and guilt and trying to confront shadows of the past is not important, live life and have fun! Only during the trial (the strongest part along with the nightmare) does the fun stop, only then, when actually listening to him, does it give weight to the situation. 

The script getting approved is another mystery, but this time it was only a limited release, the regime made sure as few people as possible saw it and critic responses at home were negative. However, the Venice film festival and western press loved it. It's Fábri's favourite own film.

 

4/5, the freezeframes and the speedups, as effective as they are in spots, can get annoying and hold it back a bit.

[Sweeping Strings 2,342]

The Thirty-Nine Steps (1935) - that's another Hitchcock I can 'chalk up', and means that the only big-screen adaptation of John Buchan's classic adventure tale I haven't seen is the Kenneth More starring version from 1960 (apparently it's the least well-regarded, though). 

Amusing that the '78 version with Robert Powell is probably best remembered for him dangling from the hands of Big Ben ... this isn't to be found in the novel, presumably it was felt that a Bond-style 'superstunt' was required.      

[Jurassic Shark 12,008]

3 minutes ago, Sweeping Strings said:

The Thirty-Nine Steps (1935) - that's another Hitchcock I can 'chalk up'

 

Did you enjoy this version? I like it a lot!

[Sweeping Strings 2,342]

Oh yes ... breezy fun at just 80 minutes. The changing of Hannay's nationality to Canadian and then him being played by the none-more-English Robert Donat raised a smile. 

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

18 minutes ago, Sweeping Strings said:

Amusing that the '78 version with Robert Powell is probably best remembered for him dangling from the hands of Big Ben ... this isn't to be found in the novel, presumably it was felt that a Bond-style 'superstunt' was required.      

 

Oh my god! Now I know what this movie was that was only partially taped from when I was a kid but never knew the damn title. All I remembered was a guy holding on to the hand of a giant clock, and this was it. Thanks!

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

I saw this earlier in the year, a great precursor to the a definite "type" of Hitchcock film.

[Holko 9,491]

A Pál Utcai Fiúk (The Boys of Paul Street) (1969)

 

It's 1902, and we follow two groups of kids playing military: one group, the "good guys", occupies an empty lot with plenty of space for playing ball and nice fort-like stacks of logs, the others an island in a lake in the botanical garden (a much cooler spot if you ask me). With the help of a traitor, the island-dwelling redshirts go to war to take the empty lot for themselves. We follow private Nemecsek, a very young kid who in spite of his childishness shows both sides (which are both preoccupied by protocols, ranks and drills) what loyalty and bravery mean. He endures countless humiliations, but even when pneumoniac, feverish and delirious from all the cold baths, he shows up to the battle and defeats the redshirt leader, winning the battle for the boys on the lot, but not without price: he eventually succumbs to his illness, and the lot gets claimed for building a 4-story apartment.

 

 

First of all, it's adapted from a children's novel that is obligatory reading in 5th grade, and also in other countries like Italy, Brazil, Poland and Japan. That means literally everybody since 1969 has watched this film instead of reading the book, and because it's a pretty faithful adaptation, many get away with it. Fábri only changed one key moment to fit his sensibilities: in the book, after the redshirts throw him out, the traitor goes back to the lot and begs the boys to take him back; and they do, he fights along them in the battle. In the movie, he's sent away: there's no grudge, he's forgiven, but he's not taken back, because treachery is much worse than a little mistake.

The novel fits Fábri's sensibilities well, the core theme, like in all his other films, is the little man trying to keep his integrity in the storm of history and big events, against an either offensive or indifferent authority, be it regimes or parents. The question here is whether Nemecsek should join the ranks of indifference to keep his status, or be branded a traitor and written as "nemecsek" with small letters, but keep his dignity and moral superiority? He obviously does the latter, but unlike in most of Fábri's movies, which have either a negative or ambiguous ending, he gets redemption and hailed as a true hero from both sides before he dies.

But it was also probably a healthy challenge for him, who is a set designer and likes closeups of faces and small, enclosed sets, because here we have a battle sequence, and the empty lot has to be built up so we know it and are attached to it by the time the battle takes place. There's a few shots panning across quickly with wide-angle (I think) lens, causing everything to look stretchy and nasty. The colour at first looked scarily and orange-and-blue-y to me, but looking back at the old copy I grew up with, that looks very washed-out and bland, so who knows? The colour supervisor for this new 4K restoration released in cinemas last year and on DVD now actually starred in the film and is a DP now, so I'll believe him that this is how it was meant to look.

Another intriguing tidbit: the guy who owned the adaptation rights to the novel included a clause in the deal that specified it has to be shot with English actors. So most of the kids in it are from England, and the whole movie was shot in English - even the Hungarian actors spoke it, with pronounciation help from the kids, then dubbing themselves back to Hungarian later. Of course all the kids were dubbed back, too. How in the flying fuck Fábri was allowed to not only mingle with imperialist scum in 1968-69, but shoot and release a Hungarian film with them, nobody knows. The English audio track is an extra I did not expect to ever hear, but it's on this new release so I'll definitely have to give it a go someday. This language quirk also helped it spread further than art film festivals this time - it's the first Hungarian film to be nominated for an Oscar in the Best Foreign Film category! (War and Peace won.)

 

5/5

 

 

 

OK, if I look at it objectively, it won't be more than a 4/5, but it's a true countrywide classic everyone has seen and most like.

 

Here I ripped most of the score from an older copy, should probably redo it with the remastered audio track, maybe somehow cross-extracting it from the English and Hungarian audio tracks? It's mostly dominated by a haunting waltz source for a street piano automaton that Nemecsek likes.

 

[Naïve Old Fart 9,488]

ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN.

The perfect accompaniment to a chicken korma, and a glass of red.

This film is almost perfect. From the meticulous production design, and the crisp, but naturalistic and unobtrusive photography, via the razor-sharp, and very intelligent script, to the bang-on performances from all concerned, it adds up to a very compelling retelling of modern history.

I couldn't write this without a special mention of Redford. It's his film, completely, and it's an absolute privilege to watch him at work. He towers (literally) above everyone else, and dominates the proceedings. That, however, is not to denigrate Hoffman, Holbrook, Robards (recieving a very well deserved Oscar - "Woodstein!"), Warden, and Balsam. It's a very competent cast, that makes a film about a couple of journalists (!) come alive.

The fact that we know what the ending is, doesn't detract from enjoying the film, at all.

This comes from a time when the cinema was prepared to take risks, and speak out at those who govern the rest of us. Would that cinema had that courage, now.

 

[Koray Savas 2,251]

11 hours ago, Cherry Pie That'll Kill Ya said:

 

Oh my god! Now I know what this movie was that was only partially taped from when I was a kid but never knew the damn title. All I remembered was a guy holding on to the hand of a giant clock, and this was it. Thanks!

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Justice League

 

Marginally better than Wonder Woman by way of being 30 minutes shorter. 

[SteveMc 2,674]

4 minutes ago, Koray Savas said:

Justice League

 

Marginally better than Wonder Woman by way of being 30 minutes shorter. 

Hah!

[JoeinAR 1,949]

2 hours ago, Koray Savas said:

Justice League

 

Marginally better than Wonder Woman by way of being 30 minutes shorter. 

you were wrong about Wonder Woman before and now you are again. Justice League has one saving grace and its the Flash.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Justice League is a deeply flawed film.

 

Of course Koray likes it.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

I just called it terrible. 

Idiot!

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

You liked it better than Wonder Woman!

[A24 4,323]

Because it's shorter, Steef. Don't you understand Koray's posts?

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

2 minutes ago, Alexcremers said:

Because it's shorter, Steef. Don't you understand Koray's posts?

 

You are the last person on Earth who should make a comment about that, Alex!

[A24 4,323]

He's a complicated man and no one understands him but his woman.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Sure...

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Is Justice League any good?