Now Screening - What Are You Watching Right Now?

Murder by Death, 1976...

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/i...Rj6hsZTZN3McWd



an all star cast in this crazy ditty, inc peter sellers again...

The screaming woman sound used as a doorbell is Fay Wray's screams from King Kong (1933). Her unique scream has made her known as the "Scream Queen" of movies.

''We should have taped the first read-through of the script and released it as a comedy album. It was a classic", reported many of the production personnel after first rehearsal session together of the cast and crew. According to writer Neil Simon, "the first reading is where I see what works and what doesn't. It was the best one I've ever witnessed for any of my plays or films." Simon was on the set of this movie every day.

Peter Sellers reportedly played several practical jokes on cast and crew during filming, including once calling Neil Simon up and imitating co-star Sir Alec Guinness and demanding a rewrite of a key scene in the middle of the night. Neither Guinness nor Simon were amused.

The Devil and Miss Jones, 1941

https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/i...n7IOGMalESPaRX

The Battle of the Sexes, 1959...


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Film rights to the story were owned by Hecht Hill Lancaster. Billy Wilder was signed to direct. Then Charles Crichton was brought out from London to direct the film but it didn't proceed. Eventually they sold the rights.

It was the first film made by the newly-formed Bryanston Films, who approved it on 13 May 1959. Crichton liked the script, felt Robert Morley was "slightly miscast... but I think it was about the best performance Peter Sellers ever gave in his life."

The Lavender Hill Mob, 1951..


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Charles Crichton says the origin of the film came with the success of The Blue Lamp. Michael Balcon, head of Ealing, got screenwriter Clarke to come up with ideas for a follow-up.

Clarke is said to have come up with the idea of a clerk robbing his own bank while doing research for the film Pool of London (1951), a crime thriller surrounding a jewel theft. He consulted the Bank of England on the project and it set up a special committee to advise on how best the robbery could take place.

Extensive location filming was made in both London and Paris. The scenes show a London still marked by bomb sites from the Second World War.

My Favorite Brunette, 1947... some light fun...

https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/i..._Q6T0-LtbJD5YW

The African Queen,1951..

https://www.movienewsletters.net/photos/008255R1.jpg

The Scarlet Pimpernel, 1934...

Set in 1792, shortly before the Reign of Terror, vengeful French mobs are outraged when aristocrats are saved from death by a secret society of 20 English noblemen known as the "Band of the Scarlet Pimpernel."

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...elfilm1934.jpg



Alexander Korda, a Hungarian who had been born in a town not far from Baroness Orczy's farm, had recently had great success with the actor Charles Laughton in the film The Private Life of Henry VIII, so he asked Laughton to play the role of Sir Percy.^[2] When the announcement went out to the press, the reaction from the Pimpernel's many fans was negative; the pug-nosed Laughton was thought a poor choice to play the suave Sir Percy. Korda thus gave the role to Leslie Howard.

Andre Sennwald wrote in The New York Times that "'The Scarlet Pimpernel' is stirring to the pulse and beautiful to the eye, and it weaves the richly textured background of those tingling months of the French Revolution into an enormously satisfying photoplay. ... Did the narrative seem a trifle leisurely in places? No matter. It was a leisurely age and here is a succulent and captivating entertainment."^[3] He also praised Leslie Howard's performance

Howard again as a Pimpernel... "Pimpernel" Smith, 1941...


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The Pimpernel's signal melody, referred to as "There's a tavern in the town" in the film, is also known as a well-known interactive children's action song with lyrics along the lines of "Heads and shoulders, knees and toes. Knees and toes. Heads and shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes. Eyes, and ears and mouth and nose. Heads and shoulders, knees and toes. Knees and toes." It was possibly a deliberate creative choice to reflect the Nazis attempting to keep up with the Pimpernel, as the song actions are often a challenge. These lyrics also inspired the P&G Head and Shoulders shampoo spoof April Fools Day body wash product "Knees and Toes". In later years the song was also adapted by the fans of many English football clubs as "There's A Circus In The Town", to generally disparage and mock the achievements and qualities of their closest city rivals.

same year,... Sullivan's Travels, 1941..

https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/i...DVrLBgOj1OjQ9u

First Blood, 1982.

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Seven Worlds, One Planet, 2019..


https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/i...lwV3HSwwnBBQbG

Carry On Up the Jungle, 1970.. or, show me your waterhole and i'll show you mine:eek:


https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/i...dmRdZYc8bF-m14

Carry On Again Doctor, 1969...


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Jim Dale did all his own stunts during the filming. At one point, he was taken to hospital after his arm repeatedly banged against a delivery trolley, causing him to have an emergency operation. The next day, he was back at work doing a stunt where a hammock falls through a wooden floor.

The bottles of Johnnie Walker Red Label whisky in Sid James's cupboard in the island hospital were all real. When Sid was given the script, without telling the producers he took it straight to the London office of the distillers and said he had a great idea for some product placement and if they gave him four cases of his favorite whisky (a case is 12 bottles) he would guarantee their product would be prominently seen in the new movie. On the day the scene was to be shot (with dummy bottles just marked 'Whisky') he turned up on the set with these cases and told the director, Gerald Thomas what he had done. Thomas was not amused as he did not like being usurped by any of the cast and Sid was also previously responsible for insisting on the 'Marcus et Spencius/Marks and Spencer' product placement gag in Carry on Cleo (1964), which Sid had used to clear his gambling debt. When Sid said he would not film the scene unless the bottles of Johnnie Walker were included, and was backed up by co-star in the scene, Jim Dale, Thomas contacted producer Peter Rogers for advice. Mindful of holding up filming over the dispute as well as not wanting to upset Sid James (who was popular with both the rest of the Carry On cast and the public), Thomas was told to just film the scene with the real Whisky to keep Sid happy and stop falling behind schedule. The scene was left in the final cut once a Johnnie Walker representative saw an early cut of the film and had no objections. Sid thanked Jim Dale and the props master on the day for backing him by giving them four bottles each and giving two to director Thomas and leaving two on Peter Rogers desk.

Carry On Cowboy, 1965.. little angela douglas is the glamour this time. she wa married to kenneth more who himself did a cowboy film; the sheriff of fractured jaw, with jane mansfield in his heyday(sid james was in that too)..


https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/i...6TzH6-Kx8YI3Cx

Three Carry Ons in succession - sort of like scoffing a double pack of chocolate digestives in one sitting.

'End Of The World' (2018)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUObi_mVOsM

So crap it does not even have a wikepedia entry or a poster so you have to make do with a video clip.

Lots of this sort of thing around these days - unknown actors and the SFX done on a ZX Spectrum. Now I still watch stuff like 'Blakes 7' despite the poor effects because they had good characters, stories and scripts; so you can get away with low production values if you hit the mark in the other areas.

But when you don't, you get this sort of rubbish. Couldn't make it all the way through. Just a total waste of the world's resources.

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Originally Posted by Macca

'The Onion Field' (1979)

James Woods is a slightly crazy stick-up man making a living by robbing liquor stores. He gets a new partner and things start to go wrong.

Starts strongly but you do need a bit of stamina as it's quite long and does trail off a bit in the last third. But it's a proper film, and James Woods is always good.

Worth a watch.

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I started the book many years ago, and that took some stamina. I gave up part way through and went back to my Dandy annual.

I've also seen the film, which I really liked, though it was a bit dark.

Casablanca, 1942.... this is the way to make a film...

https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/i...zObm0h_ti2Yk0V


Stars Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre...

To Have and Have Not, 1944... Bogart in first film with Lauren Bacall... the imagined on screen, and only on screen romance with Bergman is played out with gusto here. both were love struck quite quickly. it worked out well staying together until his death.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped..._insert%29.jpg


With some regarding To Have and Have Not as one of Hawks's best, the film represents the only time two Nobel Prize winners, Faulkner and Hemingway, worked on the same film story. Some of Bacall's lines became renowned as double entendre; for instance, "You know how to whistle, don't you, Steve? You just put your lips together and ... blow ..." (said while looking at him provocatively). This quote is ranked at #34 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes list. When Humphrey Bogart was buried, Bacall put a gold whistle with the inscription "If you want anything, just whistle" in his coffin, a nod to her line in their first film together.

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Originally Posted by struth

To Have and Have Not, 1944... Bogart in first film with Lauren Bacall... the imagined on screen, and only on screen romance with Bergman is played out with gusto here. both were love struck quite quickly. it worked out well staying together until his death.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped..._insert%29.jpg


With some regarding To Have and Have Not as one of Hawks's best, the film represents the only time two Nobel Prize winners, Faulkner and Hemingway, worked on the same film story. Some of Bacall's lines became renowned as double entendre; for instance, "You know how to whistle, don't you, Steve? You just put your lips together and ... blow ..." (said while looking at him provocatively). This quote is ranked at #34 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes list. When Humphrey Bogart was buried, Bacall put a gold whistle with the inscription "If you want anything, just whistle" in his coffin, a nod to her line in their first film together.

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One of my favourite films!

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Originally Posted by Macca

'End Of The World' (2018)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUObi_mVOsM

So crap it does not even have a wikepedia entry or a poster so you have to make do with a video clip.

Lots of this sort of thing around these days - unknown actors and the SFX done on a ZX Spectrum. Now I still watch stuff like 'Blakes 7' despite the poor effects because they had good characters, stories and scripts; so you can get away with low production values if you hit the mark in the other areas.

But when you don't, you get this sort of rubbish. Couldn't make it all the way through. Just a total waste of the world's resources.

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Looks like they picked a nice day for it though.

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Originally Posted by Pigmy Pony

Looks like they picked a nice day for it though.

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California - I don't think they ever have bad weather.

Earthquakes, smog, caps in the ass - yes; but it's never pissing down and blowing a gale.

Dad's Army, 2016..

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...rmy_poster.jpg

excellent remake imo, although i know im in the extreme minority lol

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Macca

California - I don't think they ever have bad weather.

Earthquakes, smog, caps in the ass - yes; but it's never pissing down and blowing a gale.

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lol having just said that I now see they are expecting a cat 2 hurricane https://www.independent.co.uk/climat...-b2396203.html

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Originally Posted by struth

Dad's Army, 2016..

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...rmy_poster.jpg

excellent remake imo, although i know im in the extreme minority lol

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I yet to meet anyone else who thought it was less than terrible. :D

Have you seen the lost episodes? Bloke who plays Wilson is good, the rest are beyond awful. Just shows how much talent was in the original cast and what a difference that made.

• Bill Nighy
• Catherine Zeta-Jones
• Toby Jones
• Tom Courtenay
• Michael Gambon
• Blake Harrison
• Daniel Mays
• Bill Paterson

plus Sarah Lancashire, Mark Gatiss, Alison Steadman, Annette Crosbie, Ian Lavender and Frank Williams who were in original. not a bad cast.

Bill Nighy is always good.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by struth

• Bill Nighy
• Catherine Zeta-Jones
• Toby Jones
• Tom Courtenay
• Michael Gambon
• Blake Harrison
• Daniel Mays
• Bill Paterson

plus Sarah Lancashire, Mark Gatiss, Alison Steadman, Annette Crosbie, Ian Lavender and Frank Williams who were in original. not a bad cast.

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Cast in the film is good I was talking about the lost episodes. Main problem with the film is that the script is dire.

As so often with these things they fail to recognise the elements that made it great. See also 'Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy (2005)' as another classic example. Cut all the genius stuff out and replace it with unfunny crap that's not in the original.

A New Leaf, 1971...


https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/i...T4nptrL3TRHJaj


The film was well received by critics. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 94% based on 68 reviews, with an average score of 8.1/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Elaine May is a comedic dynamo both behind and in front of the camera in this viciously funny screwball farce, with able support provided by Walter Matthau."

Roger Ebert gave the film four stars out of four, and described the film as "hilarious, and cockeyed, and warm." In his review for The New York Times, Vincent Canby called it "a beautifully and gently cockeyed movie that recalls at least two different traditions of American film comedy... The entire project is touched by a fine and knowing madness." The film was placed at #2 on Gene Siskel's list of the best movies of 1971.

Matthau again with his old sidekick...
The Front Page, 1974.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...vie_poster.jpg

Vincent Canby of The New York Times thought the story was "a natural" for Wilder and Diamond, who "have a special (and, to my mind, very appealing) appreciation for vulgar, brilliant con artists of monumental tackiness." He continued, "Even though the mechanics and demands of movie-making slow what should be the furious tempo, this Front Page displays a giddy bitterness that is rare in any films except those of Mr. Wilder. It is also, much of the time, extremely funny." He described Walter Matthau and Austin Pendleton as "marvelous" and added, "Mr. Lemmon is comparatively reserved as the flamboyant Hildy, never quite letting go of his familiar comic personality to become dominated by the lunacies of the farce. He always remains a little outside it, acting.

Serengeti, 2019..

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/i...3JVRkY4-tCDZdE

Carry On Henry, 1971...

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The coat used by Sidney James is the same coat used by Richard Burton in Anne of the Thousand Days (1969). This is the second time that Sidney James has played a character that was originally portrayed by Richard Burton, as well as worn the same costume. The first time was Carry on Cleo (1964) as Marc Antony.

Carry On Follow That Camel, 1967...

https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/i...84cJtdqxvese6r


Filming of the Sahara Desert scenes took place on Camber Sands; ironically, filming was actually halted at one point because there was snow on the sands.

Phil Silvers replaced Sidney James in the role of Sgt. Nocker, which had been originally written for James; it turned out that James could not do the film due to commitments on George and the Dragon (1966). About two weeks into the filming of this picture James suffered a mild heart attack. Phil Silvers was paid £30,000 for his role, making him by far, the highest paid star in the history of the series, which provoked a great deal of animosity among the regular Carry On team.

The location filming took three weeks, the longest in Carry On history.

For the first week of filming Jim Dale and Peter Butterworth were not speaking to one another, even though they had the majority of scenes together. At the start of shooting, Kenneth Williams told Peter Butterworth that Jim Dale 'hated his guts' and then told Dale the same thing about Butterworth. Eventually Dale asked Butterworth on set, if Williams had said anything to him and they discovered what had happened, whilst Williams stood nearby laughing at them.
In the scene where Bo West (Jim Dale) drops the rifle on Commandant Burger's (Kenneth Williams) foot, Dale actually did accidentally drop the rifle onto Williams' foot instead of onto the sand. It was so heavy it cut the boot leather. Williams' painful reaction was real, and he can be seen limping in several subsequent scenes. Dale insisted it was accidental but Williams wrote in his autobiography that he was sure it was deliberate.

Carry On Screaming!, 1966...


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One of the most popular films of 1966, and one of the highest-grossing films of the "Carry On" series.

As a merchandising gimmick at some theatres, one could purchase rubberized toy monsters called "Kreepy Kwivers" for the cost of 12/6

Joan Sims and Angela Douglas had to visit the Pinewood Plastering Department in order that a plaster cast could be taken of their whole body. This was in order for the dummy scenes in the film.

Whenever Bung is using his car the soundtrack plays a variation of "Johnny Todd", the theme to the TV series Z Cars (1962), which featured the latest car-based police of the 1960s. When Bung rides on the horse and cart, the tune "Old Ned" is used, the theme to Steptoe and Son (1962) which also starred Harry H. Corbett.

The Planets, 2019..

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/i...ujKPQbDbOs5oCM


When the Venera probes first sent back their images from the surface of Venus, there was wide speculation that there was life on the planet due to irregularities in the images noted as "black flaps" and "scorpions". It wasn't until later confirmed that the anomalies in the images were simply artifacts due to image processing. The surface of Venus is essentially the temperature of the inside of a burning house.

The Man Who Wasn't There, 2001... bluray.

https://th.bing.com/th/id/R.409cc45f...pid=ImgRaw&r=0


This film is one of my favs; filmed in black-and-white(well actually it was filmed in colour and printed by special process in black and white) and employs voiceover narration, honoring classic film noir. It differs by including classical music, setting the plot in a small town, and featuring a protagonist from outside the criminal underworld. The Coens began developing the idea from a 1940s haircut poster they saw while filming The Hudsucker Proxy. The plot was influenced by James M. Cain's crime novels, primarily Double Indemnity, The Postman Always Rings Twice, and Mildred Pierce. Aesthetically, The Man Who Wasn't There was inspired by films from the 1940s and 1950s—including Shadow of a Doubt—along with science fiction films and documentaries of the period.

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Originally Posted by struth

The Man Who Wasn't There, 2001... bluray.

https://th.bing.com/th/id/R.409cc45f...pid=ImgRaw&r=0


This film is one of my favs; filmed in black-and-white(well actually it was filmed in colour and printed by special process in black and white) and employs voiceover narration, honoring classic film noir. It differs by including classical music, setting the plot in a small town, and featuring a protagonist from outside the criminal underworld. The Coens began developing the idea from a 1940s haircut poster they saw while filming The Hudsucker Proxy. The plot was influenced by James M. Cain's crime novels, primarily Double Indemnity, The Postman Always Rings Twice, and Mildred Pierce. Aesthetically, The Man Who Wasn't There was inspired by films from the 1940s and 1950s—including Shadow of a Doubt—along with science fiction films and documentaries of the period.

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I saw it at my film club. Have to say I'm somewhat ambivalent regarding the work of the Coen brothers: I like about half of their output and am totally indifferent about the rest.

In theory I should have liked this film, but it didn't work for me.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Barry

I saw it at my film club. Have to say I'm somewhat ambivalent regarding the work of the Coen brothers: I like about half of their output and am totally indifferent about the rest.

In theory I should have liked this film, but it didn't work for me.

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i love it, although i have to be in mood for it like most Coen films

Murder by Decree, 1979...bluray.


https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/i...ZluHm-E3yMzFUR


Peter O'Toole was originally cast as Sherlock Holmes, and Sir Laurence Olivier was cast as Dr. Watson. But the two actors had not worked well together in the past, and were unable to overcome their differences for this movie.

Although Sherlock Holmes is a fictional character, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle never wrote a story about Jack the Ripper, the idea of Holmes working on that case is not entirely without basis in fact. Joseph Bell, who inspired the character of Sherlock Holmes, was consulted by Scotland Yard on the case.

The replica nineteenth century dockland set took two months and fifty men to construct at Shepperton Studio's largest soundstage. The set also included a replica muddy Thames River.

The Masonic signs Sherlock Holmes makes to the Chief Inspector are: the Duegard of the Entered Apprentice (right hand palm down over left hand palm up), the Sign of the Entered Apprentice (drawing the right hand from left to right across the throat), a variation of the Real Grip of a Master Mason (the handshake with the thumb and little finger extended), and finally the Sign of a Fellow Craft (drawing the right hand across the body from the left breast to the right hip). The Signs all refer to the penalties associated with the divulging of the Order's secrets to outsiders, for example, having the throat slit and the chest opened and the heart torn out. The Duegard refers to the gesture of holding the Bible during the initiation ritual in the left hand, with the right resting upon it.

Carry On at Your Convenience, 1971.


https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/i...nUW42Phj6kBHsy


In the scene on the motor-bike, actor Bernard Bresslaw took fourteen takes to get the scene correct. It has also been reported that the scene took over twenty takes to do. Apparently, actor Bernard Bresslaw had allegedly told producer Peter Rogers that he could ride a motor-cycle, which apparently he couldn't, arguably this being a typical actor's ruse to get an acting job.

The first "Carry On" film to lose money at the box office and only broke even in 1976 after television deals and distribution rights had been sold. Its failure at the box office was largely down to the fact it was clearly an anti-union film. This was a curious miscalculation by the makers, as they knew most of their audience were working class people who would have largely been union supporters/members.

Murder She Said, 1961...


https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/...wMzE@._V1_.jpg

Nature's Great Events, 2009.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...6ab1afa1eb.jpg

The Beiderbecke Affair, 1985..

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The Beiderbecke Tapes, 1987..

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/...1000_QL80_.jpg

while enoying a glass of big tom', watching this... Hotel Transylvania: Transformania, 2022.

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/i...x5fwMNhdnx-3eY

Throw Momma from the Train, 1987.

https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/i...r4mgYQSZIjYfz8

Passport to Pimlico, 1949..


https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/i...7Y0hhKjUbcrN6l


The story was an original concept by the screenwriter T. E. B. Clarke. He was inspired by an incident during the Second World War, when the maternity ward of Ottawa Civic Hospital was temporarily declared extraterritorial by the Canadian government so that when Princess Juliana of the Netherlands gave birth, the baby was born on Dutch territory, and would not lose her right to the throne.

The film was released in the same year as Whisky Galore! and Kind Hearts and Coronets. Passport to Pimlico was nominated for the British Academy Film Award for Best British Film and the Academy Award for Writing (Story and Screenplay). There have since been two BBC Radio adaptations: the first in 1952, the second in 1996.

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Originally Posted by struth

Passport to Pimlico, 1949..


https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/i...7Y0hhKjUbcrN6l


The story was an original concept by the screenwriter T. E. B. Clarke. He was inspired by an incident during the Second World War, when the maternity ward of Ottawa Civic Hospital was temporarily declared extraterritorial by the Canadian government so that when Princess Juliana of the Netherlands gave birth, the baby was born on Dutch territory, and would not lose her right to the throne.

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Were other children born at the same time there, accorded Dutch nationality?

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Originally Posted by Barry

Were other children born at the same time there, accorded Dutch nationality?

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The entire ward was not declared Dutch territory, only the rooms being used by Princess Margriet.

So did she have her own nursing staff and obstetrician of Dutch nationality, or did the staff have to show their passports, complete with a Dutch visa when they entered her rooms?