Samweed Knightly

Yeah, most of the time the reason that I can't pay attention when we watch a black and white movie in class is because there are so many people complaining!

:~)

mukooh

i love alot of the films that were made during those years....there are also some other films that i consider classics...but these were made in the 1940's and 1950's....but more on that later....

in regards to silent films....mentioning a director, people love to hate....probably because there only familiar with one or two of his more controversial films.....and because it's now fashionable and politically correct to be an anti-racist.....(when has it ever been not fashionable??).....now available on dvd....(it's also available as a 7 day free dvd rental at my library...where i rented and "ripped" it....so it might be available at your library too)

'broken blossoms' (1919) by d.w. griffth




After the criticism heaped on Griffith over "The Birth of a Nation," the director widely credited with being the father of cinema turned his attention to a variety of subjects intended to redeem himself in a more tolerant light. One of these was "Broken Blossoms," a tender, touching tale of an abused street urchin (Lillian Gish) who is rescued by a Chinese man with whom she eventually falls in love.

The film was adapted from a story taken from Thomas Burke's book Limehouse Nights. Lillian Gish's unforgettable performance brought intense critical acclaim to the film, although its main subject areas include child abuse, an inter-racial love affair (one of its first film renderings), drug use, racial bigotry, and murder motivated by revenge.

Samweed Knightly

mukooh,
I'm gunna have to check that out.

:~)

mukooh

one of my favorite classic films is from 1946....i was introduced to this wonderful film by emile, a one time moderator of the sarah michelle geller board....the film is called 'la belle et la bête' (beauty and the beast)......i first watched it on vhs...and now it's available on a dvd put out by the criterion collection.....

the film is in black and white.....and it's in french with english subtitles.......it's directed by jean cocteau a french artist and writer, who made his name widely known in poetry, fiction, film, ballet, painting, and opera. jean cocteau's works reflect the influence of surrealism, psychoanalysis, cubism, catholic religion; occasionally they were opium influenced. in his time cocteau was a promoter of avant-garde styles and fashions. his friends included such prominent figures as pablo picasso, the composer erik satie, the writer marcel proust, and the russian director serge diaghilev.

At the end of World War 11, when France was reeling from pain and exhaustion, Jean Marais suggested to Cocteau that a welcome diversion might be a film based on the famous 18th-century fable of Madame Leprince de Beaumont. Cocteau leaped at the idea, since it revived his own childhood fantasies and promised to introduce a new genre: fairy tale on film. La Belle et la Bete, with Josette Day as Beauty and Jean Marais as the Beast, was the first film both written and directed by Cocteau since Le Song d'un Poete. Although superficially different, the visual metaphors of both works deal with the raw staff of myth - and create an atmosphere of eerie beauty. In La Belle et la Bete Cocteau returned to his familiar stand, showing how hard it is to distinguish reality from fantasy.


The film remains faithful in spirit to the 18th-century source, but through his inventions Cocteau made the picture unmistably his own and provided a model for late filmmakers, such as Minnelli, Bergman, and Truffaut. Casting "The Most Beautiful Man in the World" as the Beast who turns into Prince Charming was a real coup de theatre. The candlebra fashioned of living arms and the smoke-breathing caryatids with moving eyes linger long in the mind. Magic talismans - a horse, a glove, a key, enchanted gardens - all abound in the film in satisfying profusion. This iconogaphy, as in many of Cocteau's enigmatic motion pictures, has provoked much learned dispute about its Surrealist, or Jungian, symbolism, deconstructionist, and even gay readings (Cocteau is not only a preeminent author, poet, artist, playwright, and filmmaker of the 20th century, he is also a central gay icon). All of these views help reveal the many, and sometimes contradictory, layers of Cocteau's vision. For all that, La Belle et la Bete remains a moving children's story (nothing appeals to adults more) told in the language and images of a master of both arts.

illyria_girl

I saw the movie Midnight express a few weeks ago for the first time, it's a true story about a guy who gets caught caught smuggling drugs out of Turkey and is thrown into a barbaric prison. He spends years there trying to get out. He even bites of a piece out of somebody's tongue, it's a verry interesting movie, but at first i didn't want to se it cause it sounded really dull, but once you see it, it's a great movie, with great acting.

Samweed Knightly

Has anyone been watching AMC where they've been doing each day is a different actor? I've been trying to catch some, tomorrow I think is Marlon Brando.

:~)

Dark Half Undine

Oh the French version of Beauty and Beast is so great! I loved when the new movie version of POTO used the hands holding the candles because that is so from that movie.

It was really pretty and well done. Not to mention Beauty and the Beast is one of my favorite fairy tales.

I know this is so cliche but I love Casablanca. I think it is my favorite(well one of my favorite) classic movies. It makes me so happy!

Samweed Knightly

I have never seen Casablanca. Can you believe that? I can't. I have to get it off net filcks sometime.

:~)

Tina

I LOVE old movies. They're so great. Just last night I watched Mister Muddwing with James Garner (Played old Noah in The Notebook) it was on TCM. I watch that station all the time. Also, just recently I watched Meet Me in St. Louis with Judy Garland. I love it.

I watch a lot of them. Any Fred Astaire&Ginger Rogers movies, I watch it! I just love their dancing and singing. Also, any Cary Grant movies, I love him. I recently watched "An Affair to Remember" - what an ending! Love it. Another one of my favorites would have to be Roman Holiday with Audrey Hepburn & Gregory Peck. But what a horrible ending!

Ok, enough from me.

Maliejandra

D W Griffith is a legend. Broken Blossoms is a pretty good movie, but not as good as everyone hails it to be. I liked his Battle of the Sexes too, although it was an unusual Griffith film.

I don't really like Casablanca, another classic. It's very over-rated and I don't feel sparks from the love story at all. The characters seem so uninterested despite their brooding and lines.

barbeegurl00

Omg, I just watched la belle et la bête this year. I didn't think I'd like it... but it was so beautiful. Since I'm pretty decent in French, it didn't particularly bother me for it to be in that language. The costumes and effects in the movie are amazing for the time... the whole movie is like a dream. I just adore it.

As for Casablanca, I recently bought it but have not yet watched it. I wanted to watch it with my boyfriend, just to torture him with a romance movie that's a classic... two things he's not exactly keen on.

Tina

I haven't seen Casablanca yet. I want to, though.

Samweed Knightly

Oh good, I'm not the only one.

:~)

Tina

Hehe. Yeah.

Although, I have seen Gone With the Wind. I loved it.

redrdr

This is one genre that I'd like to explore more. I guess my all time favorite classic is It's A Wonderful Life. I love the message and James Stewart was great in it. I also fell inlove with the name ZuZu! LOL
I don't know if these are considered classics but I love the original Freaky Friday w/Jodie Foster and Barefoot in the Park w/Robert Redford and Jane Fonda. I can watch these movies over and over again!!