Seen any good films lately? [3]

{{{ Given how hard to get the full versions seem to be and how expensive! I have uploaded the film to google drive to watch- anyone who wants to see the film- and I do strongly recommend it- just pm me and I will give you the link}}}

{{{On second thoughts, in case I'm not about when you want to watch, dont PM just click the spoiler box below}}}

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I liked that opening sequence in the church. It's a great start to the film I thought, especially to help set up the main character's background.

{{{Indeed- amazing they saw fit to cut it from the theatrical, especially as it serves in my view several purposes.
Character set up as you say, also

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Watched Hail Caeser on DVD recently. My anticipation was high; the comic delivery was limp. Sometimes I feel the same people who cut the trailers should go back and recut the whole movie: the trailers are often so much better than the movie.

Much is lost, indeed.
(In response to Petty)

{{{Sadly yes, later cuts in the film they made were even worse of course Did you watch the whole film? }}}

I did not, but I did notice that Lord... Mayfield or whatever straight up sends in a randy young fellow for Willow while the main character is watching. I don't recall that being in the version I watched.

{{{No its not, that entire night including the Gentle Johnny song is absent from the theatrical- which also screws up the timeline of how many days it is to May Day As well as losing Summerisles excellent little speech on animals, humans and religion.
Also of course it demonstrates

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Yeah, when I finally saw the extended cut it was the

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that changed the movie for me

V. Sacrifice Scene!

Whaaaaat.

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I think that's an excellent analysis.

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{{{Yes the whole issue of fate and pre-destiny is interwoven into it.

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Yeah, there are a lot of layers to peel back...

{{Yup, its why I find it so rewatchable after all these years and still so mesmerising}}}


{{{Come on Eldo- no excuses now! }}}

{{In one of my hunts for old film gems I stumbled upon a 1947 film called 'It's a Joke, Son'. I have no idea if this is considered an American comedy classic, but it should be in my view if its not.

Its main character, Claghorn, is a loud mouthed Southern gentleman, ridiculously proud of everything Southern, and disdainful of everything from the North to the point of ridiculousness.



The plot concerns how he becomes a Senator, and draws in pretty much everything that was popular in 40's cinema, so there is a love story going on involving his teenage daughter and a man her mother disapproves of, but Claghorn quite likes, some, sort of, feminism in the form of Claghorns wife and her Womens Group (though that kind of goes the opposite way by the end!)  some political satire, and cinema favourites of the day- gangsters. Hell they even throw in a performing dog.
In short the plot is pretty typical and pretty formulaic, appealing as it does to tropes of the period so blatantly.
So why do I think it should be a classic? the strength of the main character really, Senator Claghorn himself is simply a hugely enjoyable character, even my crabbit exterior smiled a lot watching this, and snorted buckie out my nose on more than one occasion and thats rare.
So its perhaps not surprising that the character of Senator Claghorn inspired Warner Brothers cartoon character Foghorn Leghorn (though ridiculously the actor who created the character,Kenny Delmar, had to then get permission from WB to continue doing his Senator Claghorn act as they had copyrighted the character!).

The plot is really just a way to loosely link together a series of sketches and ideas, and it works effectively at that, it keeps everything moving forward whilst providing what you want- which is to see Claghorn in a variety of situations just to see how he will react to them.

So whilst I cant recommend it for anything it does thats exceptional for its time, it doesn't do anything new in regards to plot, form, or secondary characters, I can recommend it for the strength of its main character, the quality of the writing of the jokes and dialogue the vast majority of which hit their mark rather than miss, and the sheer exuberant fun it has with its materia and playing with wordsl. Its also very short, clocking it at just over 1 hour. But its an incredibly densely packed hour! }}}



{{I also recommend Foghorn Leghorn too- some great writing there too}}

You can see the similarity between Beauregarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrd & Leghorn I like a lot of these old B/W films, the stories were good. (Cripes, couldnt his wife shriek !) Reminded me of our latter day Alf Garnet in some ways, he was a stick in the mud also

Interesting. I had no idea that Leghorn was inspired by a character from a film.

Watched Insidious again.

Those are good!

watched The Martian with Matt Damon and Sean Bean. how can you make a boring film about a man lost on Mars? well they managed it. had a little giggle when Sean Bean is in a NASA meeting and someone mentions the Council of Elrond. apart from that it was boring. the female lead had the charisma of a dead Geoduck.

I seem to remember "Gravity" though, right? I enjoyed them both (but then I've always enjoyed dead geoducks too )

I can see both similarities and differences between the two,  a lot of them having to do with whether they're telling a story that's measured in hours or in months.