On Sep 21, 9:10 pm, David Oberman wrote:
> Okierazorbacker wrote:
> >"The Birds" isn't one of my favorites, but SoaD, SoaT, NBNW, RW, etc.,
> >c'mon. TLV pales in comparison.
>
> I'll give you my discs of "The Man Who Knew Too Much," "Topaz," "Torn
> Curtain," "The Birds," & "The Trouble With Harry" in exchange for your
> discs of "The Lady Vanishes," "The 39 Steps," "Rebecca," "Foreign
> Correspondent," & "Secret Agent."
>
> >> >Wellman -- Seems overrated to me. Nothing really special.
>
> >> You're kidding. You don't like "The Public Enemy," "Nothing Sacred,"
> >> "Roxie Hart," "Story of G.I. Joe"?
>
> >No, haven't seen it, no, and no.
>
> I rewatched "Roxie Hart" a week or two ago. It has one of the most
> joyous, relaxed, funny dance numbers in any non-musical (& many a
> musical)--a Black Bottom danced by Ginger Rogers, the dopy mooncalf
> George Montgomery, Lynne Overman, Sara Allgood (as a pummeling prison
> matron) & a bunch of other characters on the prison floor. To me, it's
> the kind of scene that makes '30s movies in general appealing. I'd
> rather watch Ginger Rogers in this movie than anything else, & I'm a
> Ginger Rogers fan.
>
I was sort of casting around for another great Hollywood pro to put on
the list -- and I basically had it down to Wellman or Walsh, and went
with Wellman because he dares more -- Walsh does what he does better
than anybody, but he's always ready to just do another studio
assignment to keep his hand in.
Wellman is a studio pro, but he's also capable of really startling
films, particularly late in his career -- there are no Westerns
anything like Yellow Sky or Track Of the Cat, which is like a William
Inge family drama set in a snowbound western cabin with a symbolic
mountain lion prowling around outside. And this from someone capable
of the rowdy low comedy of Roxie Hart, the rowdy high comedy of
Nothing Sacred, or the vidor-ish Depression drama of Wild Boys Of the
Road.
I was thinking that the two classic era directors who most benefited
from the DVD revolution were Wellman and Curtiz -- Wellman because he
was kind of forgotten, and Curtiz has his name on so many classics
that when you start to see them in a bunch, it's rather staggering.
Though finally, Curtiz is the studio technician par excellence. I
often wonder about what the studio system directors would have done in
the modern era, without that industrial system in place. (Curtiz tends
to slide as the studio system falls away in the late 50s -- though
King Creole is the best film starring Elvis Presley -- but he was also
in the his late 60s at that point.
John Harkness
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