[PO] Penelope's Elimination Game

[flipp525]

I know Penelope would like to rescind my decision for Ida Kaminska over Anouk Aimee

No, no, no!!! Ida Kaminska retains her very much well-deserved Oscar for The Shop on Main Street. A brilliant, even haunting performance.

[Precious Doll]

I haven't seen Gaily Gaily. Is it released on DVD?

Gaily Gaily is is out on DVD in Spain and can be purchased on Amazon. Its a full screen edition with optional Spanish subtitles.

Actually it's widescreen and there are no subtitles but you can choose between the original English and Spanish dubbed. If you don't choose it palys in Spanish. I purchased it direct from Daa Vee Dee.

That's really funny because I purchased a copy from Daa Vee Dee and it was a full screen edition.

Maybe two different versions were released. What is the correct ratio for Gaily, Gaily Magilla?

[rain Bard]

Oh god...Good Will Hunting is a Best Picture winner? I take back everything bad I ever said about The Last Picture Show. What a torturous decision...

And, fwiw, I would suggest we take a moment to revisit all those choices, Sabin, and see if we agree with them. There's no point in revoking the good ones.

I have a feeling that OscarGuy is half-wishing I was an identity thief myself right now, so that some of my selections here could be rescinded. (And he's likely joined by Sabin and others-- I know Penelope would like to rescind my decision for Ida Kaminska over Anouk Aimee, and HarryGoldfarb would like to change my vote for Jerry Goldsmith's Hoosiers to Ennio Morricone's the Mission).

Funny thing is, I just saw the Last Picture Show for the first time ever last night- at the Castro Theatre with Peter Bogdanovich and Cybil Shepard in attendance. Wonderful night, wonderful film, but I honestly think I'd agree with OscarGuy in giving a Clockwork Orange the overall edge.

And Manolis, I wasn't intending to be cruel, but I admit I picked that year because I suspected that with a Greek actress among the possibilities you'd at least have a strong opinion on the matter. And I'm glad to see that it's sparked an informative discussion.

[Cinemanolis]

[quote=Precious Doll,Mar. 08 2008,13:00
Gaily Gaily is is out on DVD in Spain and can be purchased on Amazon. Its a full screen edition with optional Spanish subtitles.

Actually it's widescreen and there are no subtitles but you can choose between the original English and Spanish dubbed. If you don't choose it palys in Spanish. I purchased it direct from Daa Vee Dee.[/quote]


Thank you both.



Edited By Cinemanolis on 1205013537

[Big Magilla]

I haven't seen Gaily Gaily. Is it released on DVD?

Gaily Gaily is is out on DVD in Spain and can be purchased on Amazon. Its a full screen edition with optional Spanish subtitles.

Actually it's widescreen and there are no subtitles but you can choose between the original English and Spanish dubbed. If you don't choose it palys in Spanish. I purchased it direct from Daa Vee Dee.

[Cinemanolis]

Just finished watching '10.30 PM Summer' which was a great suprise for me. I expected a mediocre film and what i got was a strange, complex little diamond of a film, with masterful cinematography and a powerful performance by Melina Mercouri. Peter Finch and Romy Schneider are also very good, and the three of them make a very interesting and sensual triangle. This is a cinephile's film, not an easy one and imo one of Dassin's best.

[Precious Doll]

I haven't seen Gaily Gaily. Is it released on DVD?

Gaily Gaily is is out on DVD in Spain and can be purchased on Amazon. Its a full screen edition with optional Spanish subtitles.

[Big Magilla]

I never saw Illya Darling on Broadway but I did own the LP of the cast recording. Orson Bean had the Dassin part. Nikos Kourkoulos played the young sailor. He gets to sing the best song in the score, "After Love".

I thought Dream of Passion was turgid melodrama. I've never seen Once Is Not Enough making Brenda Vaccaro's Oscar nominated performance one of the few I've never seen. I have Stella in my collection, but haven't gotten around to watching it.

Gaily, Gaily is only available in Region 2 - Spain, but if you have a region free DVD player you can watch it.

I have Nasty Habits as well and watched it recently. Mercouri, as you say, is over the top in this, one of her later films. It's really about Nixon's Watergate as applied to a nunnery. Since it's a British film, the nuns are Anglican, not Roman Catholic, as they were in Black Narcissus, I suppose to avoid condemnation from Catholic groups as some of the nuns are sexually active. Glenda Jackson, Anne Jackson, Geraldine Page, Anne Meara, Sandy Dennis and Susan Penhaligon in that order, have larger parts than Mercouri even though she does get second billing. Edith Evans is wasted in her final role as the Mother Abbes who dies at the beginning of the film, thus setting up a power struggle between Glenda Jackson and Mercouri that never amounts to much.



Edited By Big Magilla on 1205007009

[Cinemanolis]

The film might have been better if Jack Lemmon, as originally intended, had played the role. I preferred the Broadway musical version called Illya Darling in which Orson Bean played opposite Mercouri.

I didn't know that Lemmon was to star in 'Never on Sunday'! That would be awesome.

Since you saw Illya Darling, do you remember Nikos Kourkoulos, the man who played Mercouri's love interest? If i remember correctly he was nominated or a Tony for this. I met him last year, some months before his death, and i just wanted to know if you liked him.

I haven't seen Gaily Gaily. Is it released on DVD? I usually not like Mercouri in her last films. One of her best performances were in 'Stella' which won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film, another very iconic role for her. Cacoyannis is really influenced by the italian neorialism, particularly in the final scene. She has some excellent scenes were she sings, songs by Manos Hadjidakis again.

I found her over the top in 'Dream of Passion' and 'Once is Not Enough', she was good in 'Phedra' and very good in 'Topkapi'. I haven't seen 'Promise at Dawn', 'The Player Pianos' and the 'Victors' and for some reason i refuse to see 'Nasty Habits' although i have it my video collection (maybe due to the terrible greek title which sounds like a cheap porno 'Naughty frocks'). Have you seen any of these? Would it worth looking for them?

[Big Magilla]

Sorry Big Magilla, i know that you must have prefered Kerr to Mercouri, i just couldn't resist the (only) chance to give it to a worthy performance by a greek (since i don't think that anyone would use a pass in Katina Paxinou's case).

Anyone but Taylor in that wretched film she herself despised.

I love Mercouri, I just don't love Never On Sunday mainly because of Dassin's horrible acting. The film might have been better if Jack Lemmon, as originally intended, had played the role. I preferred the Broadway musical version called Illya Darling in which Orson Bean played opposite Mercouri. It was scheduled for release on CD a year ago but something happened and it didn't come out.

By coincidence I watched Mercouri last night in Norman Jewison's Gaily, Gaily based on Ben Hecht's early newspaper days in 1910 Chicago, a film I hadn't seen since it came out in 1969. It was recently released on DVD in region 2 - Spain. Mercouri, Brian Keith and especially Beau Bridges as the young Hect, renamed Harvey, are good in it but the it's the music, costume design and art direction and set decoration by honorary Oscar winner Robert Boyle that really distinguish it. Nine years after playing the happy-go-lucky waterfront prostitute in Never On sunday Mercouri had graduated to be being the madam of the most lavish whorehouse ever constructed for a film.

[Sabin]

It's hip to bash Good Will Hunting but is it because of its unfashionable genre- the "male weepie" or because it's a particularly insufferable example of the genre?

Somewhere in between. I like 'Good Will Hunting' because of Escoffier's beautiful cinematography, Matt Damon's justly star-making performance, Danny Elfman's music, and the Elliot Smith soundtrack. But it's pretty basic stuff with lots of grossly underdeveloped subplots. I like the thing but my heart is very strongly with Curtis Hanson's masterful 'L.A. Confidential' that year and watching it flounder in the wake of a 'Titanic' juggernaut was the first sobering Oscar-viewing experience for me.

Basically, what I'm saying is how dare you, sir!

1959. I haven't seen Paul Muni's 'The Last Angry Man' or really heard about it. Can't really do anything there. Sadly, I've yet to see 'Room at the Top' as well so there goes Laurence Harvey. There goes Charlton Heston and immediately at that. I've liked some of his performances but 'Ben-Hur' is an insufferable slog.

It comes down to two performances as totally different in temperament as they are equally masterful: James Stewart in 'Anatomy of a Murder' and Jack Lemmon in 'Some Like It Hot'. On the one hand, it seems as though Lemmon has retained his Oscars thus far and gained one for 'Missing'. I think 'Anatomy of a Murder' showcases one of the best peevish Stewart performances but I can't discount the adorable sexual identity crisis of Lemmon in 'Some Like It Hot'. He gets it.

Flipp. Best Film Editing 1995.



Edited By Sabin on 1205002387

[Bog]

I don't think Steph or any other alter ego played the game, just Akash. I remember passing categories to him where I thought he would make a favorable choice.

Seems to me it was just Akash and "he" was a poster on the board participating in the game, I guess I don't know if I see the need of revoking in this situation. He may not have been anyone named Akash, but that person's opinion should be able to register here, no? Just a thought

[Cinemanolis]

Ok this tricky for me.

Right before reading this thread, i was talking to a director friend about his short romance with Melina Mercouri, while i was watching the 'Sundowners' with Deborah Kerr. And then i see that i have been asigned the 1960 Best Actress category! Spooky.

But i will use my second pass. Elizabeth Taylor was stunningly mediocre in 'Butterfield 8'. I am only joking, don't worry. Taylor is out.

I haven't seen 'Sunrise at Campobello' so Greer Garson is out. By the way they should release this movie on Dvd sometime.

That leaves Deborah Kerr, Melina Mercouri and Shiley McLaine. Tough one.

Deborah Kerr was excellent in an OK film. From my introduction you realise that the film wasn't strong enough to prevent me from talking to the phone. However she has some very good moments, especially when she watches the young woman in the train.

Mercouri was also excellent in 'Never on Sunday'. I can forgive her some over the top moments, since she is absolutely delightful in most of the film. She was the 2nd greek actress ever to be nominated (and still is as only count Dukakis as half greek) had won the Best Actress award in Cannes, and at the time she was a very promising actress.

Shirley McLaine was delightful in 'The Apartment'. The simplicity and truth of her performance is really fitting the movie. I love the fact that she doesn't seem to try too hard to leave an impact in this movie, like my beloved Jack Lemmon, but in the end they both succeed.

However i will stick to the Deborah Kerr versus Melina Mercouri scenario. Kerr has her average movie working against her and Mercouri (almost) the rest of her career against her. In the sentimental section, Kerr remains one of the best (if not the best) actresses that have never won an Oscar, and of course Mercouri is one of the few Oscar nominees i have actually talked to and is of course a greek legend (primary for her work in the Ministry of Culture).

As i have to decide i will go with Melina, as i can't forget how iconic she was in 'Never on Friday' especially if you are greek. This performance, along with the Golden Globe winner 'Stella', was the best of her career, while Kerr's performances in 'Black Narcissus', 'The Night of the Iguana', 'Tea and Sympathy' , 'Bonjour Tristesse' and even in the underrated 'The Arrangement' is better than her excellent work in 'The Sundowners'. Also i love the fact that i award a foreign actress in a semi-foreign language film that is a comedy. It's kind of rare.

Sorry Big Magilla, i know that you must have prefered Kerr to Mercouri, i just couldn't resist the (only) chance to give it to a worthy performance by a greek (since i don't think that anyone would use a pass in Katina Paxinou's case).

rainbard: How can you asign a greek, a category where a greek actress is in contention? This is cruel. lol

I almost forgot:
Sabin - Best Actor 1959

and now i am off watching '10.30 PM Summer' with Peter Finch, Romy Schneider and Melina Mercouri, in order to confirm my thoughts on the dissapointing career of Mercouri, and start feeling guilty for Kerr.



Edited By Cinemanolis on 1204988407

[OscarGuy]

Oh god...Good Will Hunting is a Best Picture winner? I take back everything bad I ever said about The Last Picture Show. What a torturous decision...

And, Magillla, we know that Taylor's losing that Oscar, but I'm not sure who I would even pick. I haven't seen the nominees, but I can probably guess which actress you want to win.

And, fwiw, I would suggest we take a moment to revisit all those choices, Sabin, and see if we agree with them. There's no point in revoking the good ones.



Edited By OscarGuy on 1204982472

[Big Magilla]

Manolis, I'm counting on you to right the biggest wrong in Oscar history! :O