TCM: The Greatest Movie Channel

[Inquisitionist]

Recorded Fiddler on the Roof this week.  I thought Norman Jewison did a pretty good job adapting it for the movie screen.  I particularly like the staging of "Matchmaker, Matchmaker."  The movie runs out of steam toward the end, but so do the versions I've seen on stage.  Some interesting trivia:

• Topol was only 35/36 when he portrayed Tevye in the movie.  He had performed the role on stage before that.
• Rosalind Harris, who played eldest daughter Tzeitel in the movie, played the mother Golde opposite Topol in a touring company about 20 years later.
• Norma Crane, who played Golde, died from breast cancer two years after the movie's release.  According to IMDb, when Norma became ill with cancer, her close friend Natalie Wood paid the medical bills as well as the (eventual) funeral costs.  Crane was divorced from Herb Sargent (later a primary writer for SNL).
• Ray Lovelock, who played Fyedka, had an Italian mother and a British father.  His IMDb credits list many Italian language movies and TV series.
• Leonard Frey (Motel the tailor) was only three years younger than Topol.  He and Topol received the movie's only acting nominations from Oscars.  While he amassed many acting credits before dying from AIDS-related complications at age 49, I was surprised to learn Frey played Lawrence, the only student to attend Ted Baxter's Famous Broadcaster's School in the Mary Tyler Moore episode of that name. 
• Tiny Molly Picon was a very different Yente than towering Bea Arthur, who originated the role onstage.

[Milburn Stone]

Leonard Frey (Motel the tailor) was only three years younger than Topol.  He and Topol received the movie's only acting nominations from Oscars.  While he amassed many acting credits before dying from AIDS-related complications at age 49, I was surprised to learn Frey played Lawrence, the only student to attend Ted Baxter's Famous Broadcaster's School in the Mary Tyler Moore episode of that name.

 

I remember him from that MTM. 

 

So sad he died young. We were deprived of an actor who always brought a piercing intelligence, wit, and sensitivity to his work.

 

He was awesome in Boys in the Band.

Edited December 4, 2015 by Milburn Stone

[Rinaldo]

Though actors weren't publicly "out" around 1970, Leonard Frey came as close as anyone, with his iconic role as the birthday boy in The Boys in the Band (stage and screen) followed by his performance in Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon. Of course one ought not confuse role and actor etc. etc., but people did and do, and in his case it wasn't inaccurate. And such identification unfortunately could (still can) limit the parts an actor is offered thereafter. The wonderful thing is that Frey's talent was so substantial that he did get other sorts of parts, including Motel. The Academy Award nomination was no more than he deserved, and I really wanted him to win.

 

And other good stuff came his way too: not just the MTM role, but episode tv, telefilms, some more theatrical films. He was a regular on Best of the West for its one season as the sheriff, and on other series after that too.

[editorgrrl]

TCM is showing the 1938 Reginald Owen A Christmas Carol on December 6, 11, and 24: http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/70898/A-Christmas-Carol/ but not the 1951 Alastair Sim version: http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/70899/A-Christmas-Carol/

Hallmark Movies & Mysteries is showing the 1951 A Christmas Carol with Alastair Sim this Wednesday 12/9 at 5 a.m. http://www.hallmarkmoviesandmysteries.com/christmas-carol-a-1951

[Rinaldo]

As to Fiddler on the Roof, I wanted to make a couple more comments. Norman Jewison did direct it well, though he himself has commented on the irony that the producers probably felt secure that they had a Jewish director when they hired someone with his name, whereas his background is Protestant. (It has sometimes been speculated that the reason the movie somewhat downplays the humor in the stage show was an [unconscious] wish of an outsider to be respectful to Jewish culture. On the other hand, it's the sort of shift in tone that often seems to happen in film adaptations anyway, so who knows?)

 

Of course we're about to get a big Broadway revival of the show. Danny Burstein recently remarked that many of his friends have been saying, "That's great, but aren't you a little young for Tevye?" And he has discovered that in fact at 51, he is older than almost all the classic portrayers of the role were when they first did it (Zero Mostel was 49, Topol was one of the youngest at 30+, Theodore Bikel was 45, and so on).

[Rinaldo]

Bless TCM for letting me finally see Sun Valley Serenade this weekend. One of the many titles that turn up in the "Oscar Song Books" as an otherwise unmemorable framework for an Oscar-nominated song, and now I've checked it off.

 

In fact there are things to recommend it to a history-minded viewer.

 

1. the chance to see what the Sonja Heine thing was about (no, still can't really explain it, but talkies were still new and there was no TV... I guess).
2. the Glenn Miller Band front and center in the story, and they introduce "Chattanooga Choo-Choo." And oh, the relief, after my bracing myself for the sight of a soloist addressing "Pardon me, boy... you can give me a shine" to an adult black man, that it doesn't happen that way. (Even as we must admit that it's probably what the songwriters had in mind.) It's a tenor, singing "boys" to a (white) male harmony quartet. And then, for the dance specialty,
3. a few minutes of the highest art in performance. (Yes, probably sectioned off so that racist markets could snip it out. But it's now here to be seen forever.) First, a female soloist so magnetic that I think, "Oh, that's gotta be Somebody. Could it be...?" (and end credits confirm that yes, it's Dorothy Dandridge). And she's joined by the Nicholas Brothers. And then the brothers do their thing for a full refrain, and a movie needs no more justification than that to exist.

[PaulaO]

Sunset Boulevard last night. Gosh, what a great picture. William Holden's character (Joe Gillis) had moments of unlikeableness , and Norma Desmond had moments of lucidity. Great dialog, great settings. The cinematography was so clean and crisp even though the furnishings and house in general were so heavy. One of the best movies ever. Loved the shoulders in Holden's suits. I'm surprised he could get throught doors without getting stuck.

[Julia]

It just gets better if you get into it - the movie Norma Desmond keeps watching is Queen Kelly, the movie that IRL was pretty much the end of the careers of both Gloria Swanson and Erich von Stroheim (Norma's butler, who actually was one of the great directors in silent movies). And her poker buddies were all huge silent stars, and Cecil B DeMille was an insanely powerful director who could have saved Gloria Swanson and didn't, and Hedda Hopper was one of the press vultures who hounded her out of pictures. And Nancy Olson, bless her heart, really did more or less drop out of pictures to get married (to Alan Jay Lerner of Lerner and Loewe).

 

And that last scene, on the staircase, is one of the most horrifying things I've ever seen on film.

[NewDigs]

And it has a monkey!

Great movie. For some reason I thought it was earlier than 1950. Maybe because it's so perfectly, to me, atmospheric of an earlier era.

[ratgirlagogo]

 

the chance to see what the Sonja Heine thing was about (no, still can't really explain it

People who love figure skating - REALLY love figure skating. I'm surprised if anything she isn't bigger today with those folks. In fact for all I know she still is.   You know, the Ice Castles cult.......Plus good-looking Olympic medalists in general are always going to at least be offered a CHANCE in the movies.   Johnny Weissmuller, Buster Crabbe, Bruce Jenner.   And most obviously Esther Williams although she was never in the Olympics.

Edited December 7, 2015 by ratgirlagogo

[elle]

Has anyone seen The Twelve Chairs with Mel Brooks all the way to the end?  I could only watch about the first half hour before getting lost.

[Rinaldo]

Plus good-looking Olympic medalists in general are always going to at least be offered a CHANCE in the movies.   Johnny Weissmuller, Buster Crabbe, Bruce Jenner.   And most obviously Esther Williams although she was never in the Olympics.

The only one of those, though, who was a multi-picture major star featuring their athletic specialty, was Esther Williams. And from this distance in time her career puzzles me, too, I admit. The others (and others -- remember the brief screen careers of Mitch Gaylord and Bart Conner?) turned to acting (perhaps taking a moment at some point to remind us of their claim to fame), some obviously with more success than others.

Has anyone seen The Twelve Chairs with Mel Brooks all the way to the end?  I could only watch about the first half hour before getting lost.

 

I saw it when it came out, and I think again a few years later. Getting lost wasn't a problem for me; getting bored was. It's such a very mild comic premise, and nothing seems to happen. Frank Langella (near the start of his film career) seems like such a lightweight juvenile here, nobody would have predicted the major talent and staying power that he proved to have.

[Sharpie66]

I saw Topol as Tevye in a FotR traveling production back in '89 and he was still great then.

Oh, and in a Sonja Heine-related tidbit, an apartment building I lived in Oak Park, IL about ten years ago had been owned by her back in the 1950s. Random, but I always thought that was pretty cool!

[elle]

 (and others -- remember the brief screen careers of Mitch Gaylord and Bart Conner?) turned to acting (perhaps taking a moment at some point to remind us of their claim to fame), some obviously with more success than others.

Gonna show my age here - Yes!  Mitch Gaylord in American Anthem was HUGE when it came out.  I don't recall Bart Conner's acting career at all.   I do not think any Olympic medalists have really had good screen careers since the big studio days.

 

 

I saw it when it came out, and I think again a few years later. Getting lost wasn't a problem for me; getting bored was. It's such a very mild comic premise, and nothing seems to happen. Frank Langella (near the start of his film career) seems like such a lightweight juvenile here, nobody would have predicted the major talent and staying power that he proved to have

Thanks, I kept waiting for something to happened and figured I was missing something.   Guess I was not.

[ratgirlagogo]

Hmmm.  I will be the outlier here who LOVES The Twelve Chairs.  I must have seen it forty times since it was so often the second feature in the double bill in the seventies  - most memorably for me once at the Alex Theatre in Glendale (CA) as the supporting feature to Cries and Whispers - which seemed so bizarre when I saw it, but now seems in a weird way kind of perfect.   And while I understand you see see Frank Langella as a lightweight juvenile here, I saw him at twelve and thirteen as  a knee-weakeningly beautiful man.  I still have a major soft spot for him.  Of course it helps that it turned out he could act.:)

 

I am recording In The Bag which follows, apparently another version of The Twelve Chairs.  I'll let you know what I think.

Edited December 7, 2015 by ratgirlagogo

[Julia]

Sonja Henie was a bit of a thug, who reportedly used her father's money and her own nazi connections (she took advantage of the '36 Olympics to make nice with Hitler) to give her a competitive advantage. I'm sort of ok with her being swallowed by the mists of history.

[Crisopera]

Sun Valley Serenade is so oddly written - Sonja Henie's character is horrible.  She's manipulative and bitchy, and we're supposed to find her adorable.  Poor Lynn Bari, always the other woman (dubbed nicely by Pat Friday) - and in this one, she's really got a point when she gets angry with little Sonja.  I'm huge fan of big band swing, and it's a blast to see Glenn Miller.  And yes, the amazing Nicholas Brothers - it's always so frustrating when they do the one number then disappear.  Great to see the 19-year-old Dorothy Dandridge - one of the great wasted talents.  Fascinating to see Henie's ice-skating style today - we're now so used to the athletic style, with all the double and triple leaps, and she does all of one jete.  Her big specialty seems to be the spin that starts out slowly and gets faster (is that a sitz-spin?).  And talk about a star who is completely inexplicable - Milton Berle.  Completely unfunny and tiresome.

Edited December 7, 2015 by Crisopera

[Milburn Stone]

I'm huge fan of big band swing, and it's a blast to see Glenn Miller. 

 

I'm enjoying the whole discussion on this, including learning things I never knew about Sonja Henie. But I just wanted to comment on this part, to say that one reason I'm glad Miller's band appeared in a couple of Fox movies is that they sound so much better, more dynamic and alive, than they do on their RCA studio recordings. The Fox soundstage and engineers really brought out their sound in a way that I guess record companies weren't capable of at the time, for whatever reason that I don't really understand. 

 

I've got a CD that came out in the late eighties of Glenn Miller's film recordings, and it's my favorite way to listen to that band.

[ratgirlagogo]

 

Sonja Henie was a bit of a thug, who reportedly used her father's money and her own nazi connections

Nazi??!!??  Yuck. Wow, now that's something I DID not know.  Fuck her ice skating in that case:).

[Crs97]

I don't recall Bart Conner's acting career at all. I do not think any Olympic medalists have really had good screen careers since the big studio days.

I only remember Bart in an episode of "Higheay to Heaven." He played a gymnast (shocking, I know). I think Michael Landon was helping a gymnast who lost his leg in a car accident and maybe Bart was involved somehow in the accident and was now helping him continue in the sport. Something like that.

[Rinaldo]

Bart Conner also played the big rival (conveniently named Bart) in a BMX-competition flick from 1986 called Rad. If I remember right, he wanted to do the movie because he did in fact race for fun at the time; but he injured his ankle and they had to use a stunt rider almost throughout. Apparently the movie still has a following among BMX fans, who are sometimes surprised to be told "that guy" was also a gymnast.

[Julia]

At least his wasn't the worst attempted gymnastics crossover. I think that honor goes to the legendary Kurt Thomas epic Gymkata, where Kurt brings Freedom! and Star Wars (Reagan Star Wars, not Lucas Star Wars) to Randomstan with the mighty martial arts-type power of his high bar routine. 

Edited December 8, 2015 by Julia

[prican58]

Kirk Douglas is 99 today. Damn. 

[mariah23]

Heads up, TCM Remembers is live.

[CMH1981]

That was good, now if only TCM would reach out to the Academy and tell them to use this just as it is for the next telecast.

[voiceover]

her Lady Catherine de Bourgh was the best thing about the Olivier Pride and Prejudice (JMO)

 

I am fond of her but must disagree, as the best thing about this movie is...well.   All of it.  Maybe top of the list: Mary Boland & Edmund Gwenn are the perfect Bennetts (Boland is the only Mrs Bennett who doesn't make me hurl).

I know this version makes purists shudder but I happily separate the film from the book.  Have adored it from first viewing, and it takes turns with His Girl Friday as #1 on my movie list ("The honor of standing up with you, Mr Darcy, is more than I can bear!" *faints*).

[prican58]

Watched the TCM Remembers.  Marty Ingels died? When did that happen? 

[elle]

Watched the TCM Remembers.  Marty Ingels died? When did that happen? 

October - He was 79.

[Rinaldo]

Thursday evening will be another Disney Vault program. The big items are So Dear To My Heart; rarely seen, one of his live-action-nostalgia-with-a-little-animation titles, and the Babes in Toyland from the 1960s. As it happens, I've never seen either one.

[Milburn Stone]

Thursday evening will be another Disney Vault program. The big items are So Dear To My Heart; rarely seen, one of his live-action-nostalgia-with-a-little-animation titles, and the Babes in Toyland from the 1960s. As it happens, I've never seen either one.

 

 

I really like So Dear to My Heart. Pretty sure that's the one Mel Tormé's "County Fair" is featured in, pretty substantially.

[Julia]

I'm just tickled that they programmed A Matter of Life and Death tonight right after the Don Ameche Heaven Can Wait. It is possible that I'm way too easily amused.

[bluepiano]

Saw for the very first time I Want to Live, and it loved up to its reputation for 1) an amazing performance by Susan Hayward and 2) the almost unbearably intense final 20 minutes or so, in which her execution is depicted in semi-documentary style, which, because the lack of flashy camera work or directorial tricks, makes it so powerful. Kudos to Robert Wise and his team. And a lesson for a lot of filmmakers today about how less can be more. In fact, I can't imagine a movie of such uncompromising integrity being made today.

 

Also on a very good day of court room movies, the enjoyable, flashy Witness for the Prosecution and the intense, ground-breaking in its day Anatomy of a Murder, both masterfully directed (Billy Wilder, Otto Preminger) and acted. (Laughton and Dietrich in Prosecution, Jimmy Stewart and some great supporting actors like Arthur O'Connell and a young George C. Scott in Anatomy.) It's maybe Stewart's most intense performance ever. There's also a great jazz score by Duke Ellington.

 

Thanks TCM.

Edited December 17, 2015 by bluepiano

[Crisopera]

My two favorite Christmas movies are on this Saturday, one after the other - Christmas in Connecticut (1945) at 9:30PM and Remember the Night (1940) at 11:30PM.  Both star my favorite actress of all time, Barbara Stanwyck, and give a mini-demonstration of her astonishing range, and the chemistry she had with pretty much all of her leading men.  Highly recommended!

[Charlie Baker]

I discovered Remember the Night last year. Great movie for the season  It was heralded in that huge Stanwyck bio that came out a while back as one of her very best, and I certainly agree.  MacMurray is great too and I remarked here that it's amazing how differently they come across in this as contrasted with Double Indemnity.

[Julia]

I love Christmas in Connecticut for Cuddles Sakall, and how he didn't quite manage to snatch scenes away from Barbara Stanwyck (which rarely happened).

[Rinaldo]

I wish I could love Remember the Night as much as you all do. Stanwyck and MacMurray are both aces in it, certainly. But the mixtures of genres/moods doesn't work for me (as it doesn't in some other Preston Sturges scripts, and I know it's sort of his specialty, but I prefer his movies in which one affect dominates). In this case we start with courtroom melodrama which quickly veers into cautious romance shading into romantic comedy, then as it becomes a road picture it diverges into slapstick, then more melodrama with her family, then sentimentality (touched with religion) with his, followed by romantic melodrama for an abrupt windup. I do understand that for those who get it, the mix is part of the enjoyment; I wish I were one of those.

[3pwood]

I don 't disagree with you, Rinaldo.  I always wish that Sturges could have made up his mind about what he wanted to do in any given movie -- if he were a kid today, he'd probably be diagnosed as an advanced case of ADD because he never seemed able to focus.  But I still find him more interesting than anyone else, whatever it is he's doing at the moment -- I wonder what it was like to work with him?

[henrysmom]

An interesting article on Preston Sturges here:

www.vanityfair.com/news/2010/05/sturges-201005

 

I don't agree with the author when he says :"Not one of these movies is a perfect picture, the way The Shop Around the Corner is perfect, or The Wizard of Oz or Zelig or The Godfather is perfect."

 

Personally I could put The Lady Eve and The Palm Beach Story on perpetual loop and be happy, especially if I could toss The Miracle 

Of Morgan's Creek in there every once in awhile to break up the monotony.  I love Barbara Stanwyck in everything she did, but I love her the very best in The Lady Eve.  The way she plays that poor sap Henry Fonda...love it.

 

One thing I especially like about Preston Sturges' films is how he can take an actor I don't much care for, and make me love them.  I'm not a huge Henry Fonda fan, but love him in The Lady Eve.  Betty Hutton is pretty much unbearable to me, except in Morgan's Creek, where I love her.  Same thing with Rudy Vallee in The Palm Beach Story.

[mariah23]

An interesting article on Preston Sturges here:

www.vanityfair.com/news/2010/05/sturges-201005

 

I don't agree with the author when he says :"Not one of these movies is a perfect picture, the way The Shop Around the Corner is perfect, or The Wizard of Oz or Zelig or The Godfather is perfect."

 

Personally I could put The Lady Eve and The Palm Beach Story on perpetual loop and be happy, especially if I could toss The Miracle 

Of Morgan's Creek in there every once in awhile to break up the monotony.  I love Barbara Stanwyck in everything she did, but I love her the very best in The Lady Eve.  The way she plays that poor sap Henry Fonda...love it.

 

One thing I especially like about Preston Sturges' films is how he can take an actor I don't much care for, and make me love them.  I'm not a huge Henry Fonda fan, but love him in The Lady Eve.  Betty Hutton is pretty much unbearable to me, except in Morgan's Creek, where I love her.  Same thing with Rudy Vallee in The Palm Beach Story.

Never forget: "Tipping is un-American."

[Julia]

An interesting article on Preston Sturges here:

www.vanityfair.com/news/2010/05/sturges-201005

 

I don't agree with the author when he says :"Not one of these movies is a perfect picture, the way The Shop Around the Corner is perfect, or The Wizard of Oz or Zelig or The Godfather is perfect."

 

It takes a special kind of special to find a perfection in Zelig that's missing in Sullivan's Travels, JMO, but it's a very Vanity Fair sort of assertion.

 

Actually, I think if Woody Allen had been forced to watch Sullivan's Travels on perpetual loop a lot of unpleasantness could have been avoided.

Edited December 17, 2015 by Julia

[Rinaldo]

I don't agree with the author when he says :"Not one of these movies is a perfect picture, the way The Shop Around the Corner is perfect, or The Wizard of Oz or Zelig or The Godfather is perfect."

 

Personally I could put The Lady Eve and The Palm Beach Story on perpetual loop and be happy, especially if I could toss The Miracle 

Of Morgan's Creek in there every once in awhile to break up the monotony.  

I find the whole original assertion kind of odd in the examples used. Perfection is a rare commodity in any art, and it's not really the most important thing. I could pick nits in The Wizard of Oz and even The Godfather, but who cares? -- they're great achievements that have spoken to one generation after another. I have nothing to say against The Shop Around the Corner, and I'll defend Zelig in this respect too: it attempts something very specific, a small thing perhaps, and achieves it flawlessly (some might argue about whether it was worth doing, but not I).

 

I don't quite capitulate to The Lady Eve 100% (though it gives me great pleasure even so), but I agree about The Palm Beach Story and would add Unfaithfully Yours (it does have that leaning toward the sentimental, but it's so brief -- just the last 20 seconds -- I can ignore it). And yes to an occasional visit to The Miracle of Morgan's Creek for variety; and yes yes yes to that being the only context in which I like Betty Hutton (but I do like her a lot in that). Sullivan's Travels is not for me.

[ratgirlagogo]

I love love LOVE Christmas in July.  "If you can't sleep at night, it's not the beans, it's the bunk!"  The scene where Dick Powell comes into Raymond Walburn's office to claim his prize for that catchy slogan - and Walburn just looks at him and deadpans, thunderstruck: " I can hardly wait to give you my money" - just kills me every single time.

 

I love all his films, but  CIJ and Sullivan's Travels and The Lady Eve (written especially for Stanwyck, they say, and yes she's the one doing the fancy card shuffling) and The Palm Beach Story ("but that's a whole nother movie") are all easier to love because of the casting.  I love the scripts for Miracle of Morgan's Creek and Hail the Conquering Hero but Betty Hutton and Eddie Bracken are always tough sledding for me.  The wonderful supporting cast always more than makes up for it, but still.  I wonder what Unfaithfully Yours would have been like with a leading lady who was less of a (stunningly beautiful) block of wood than Linda Darnell - in a way her woodenness plays well against Rex Harrison's high-strung mania.

 

If any of you have not read Sturges' autobiography, you absolutely should.  There are a few good recent bios, but reading his own account of his own life is a trip.

Edited December 18, 2015 by ratgirlagogo

[Julia]

I guess that's my UO? I just think that ruminations on the hollowness of fashionable notice would come as more of an indictment from someone who didn't rely fairly heavily on the less-than-rigorous qualifications for fashionable notice, but then I was on the wrong side of the Kazan issue too.

I'm not judging people who believe differently. I just have admitted issues in this area. And I think that a lot of modern directors would be well served by being reminded that there's a world outside.

And I'll look for Sturges' autobiography.

Edited December 18, 2015 by Julia

[ratgirlagogo]

 

ruminations on the hollowness of fashionable notice

wait wait wait - what post are you referencing here? If it's mine, I'm sorry, I'm not understanding you.

Edited December 18, 2015 by ratgirlagogo

[Julia]

wait wait wait - what post are you referencing here? If it's mine, I'm sorry, I'm not understanding you.

Not really anyone's. I just don't admire Zelig. And I think one of the reasons I don't is that, like Manhattan (which I loved until I understood the context), the leading character he invited us to judge was, basically, him.

[Rinaldo]

My problem is sort of the reverse: I'm not inclined to use a moviemaker's actual life to judge his work (though I'll admit, with a whimper, that Manhattan and a couple of other Woody Allen flicks push my limits in that respect -- not Zelig, though). But I do object to having the same banal truism presented as a final "discovery," again and again. My point being that I think Woody Allen has seen Sullivan's Travels too many times, and absorbed it too well, and I didn't like it the first time around.

 

The blinding insight that simple enjoyment and laughter is a worthwhile achievement? Yeah, I knew that when I walked into the theater, Mr. Sturges. And every time the Allen point-of-view character comes up with a list of simple pleasures that make life worth living, or that serve in place of a "reason for existence" (I remember it most annoyingly in Crimes and Misdemeanors, but it happened in movie after movie) -- I was way ahead of him, like two hours' viewing time ahead. And if that's all he has to tell me, I could have saved my time; and furthermore, he came up with the same "insight" at the end of the previous movie, and the one before that. Can we now start the story knowing that, and move on?

 

But I'll admit that I'm temperamentally incompatible with that kind of philosophical questioning. Been there, asked and answered, moving on.

[Crisopera]

Aaagh!  My apologies!  Christmas in Connecticut and Remember the Night are on tonight, not tomorrow. 

[Rinaldo]

Yes, last night was another Disney night. Anybody see 'em?

[Julia]

My problem is sort of the reverse: I'm not inclined to use a moviemaker's actual life to judge his work (though I'll admit, with a whimper, that Manhattan and a couple of other Woody Allen flicks push my limits in that respect -- not Zelig, though). But I do object to having the same banal truism presented as a final "discovery," again and again. My point being that I think Woody Allen has seen Sullivan's Travels too many times, and absorbed it too well, and I didn't like it the first time around.

 

The blinding insight that simple enjoyment and laughter is a worthwhile achievement? Yeah, I knew that when I walked into the theater, Mr. Sturges. And every time the Allen point-of-view character comes up with a list of simple pleasures that make life worth living, or that serve in place of a "reason for existence" (I remember it most annoyingly in Crimes and Misdemeanors, but it happened in movie after movie) -- I was way ahead of him, like two hours' viewing time ahead. And if that's all he has to tell me, I could have saved my time; and furthermore, he came up with the same "insight" at the end of the previous movie, and the one before that. Can we now start the story knowing that, and move on?

 

But I'll admit that I'm temperamentally incompatible with that kind of philosophical questioning. Been there, asked and answered, moving on.

 

I can see it from your perspective, and yes, I think that aspect of it can definitely be overemphasized. But I tend to associate Allen less with the clever comedies he made in the seventies and early eighties and more with his endless 'serious' philosophical questioning of what (for me, obviously) amounts to the world inside his navel. I just don't think he has enough insight to carry the weight of his work. 

 

The message I would have wanted him to get from Sullivan's Travels is less laughter is good than wow, you really haven't earned the right to take yourself as seriously as you do. And in fairness, he's hardly alone in that.

[Rinaldo]

I just don't think he has enough insight to carry the weight of his work. 

There, at least, we can definitely agree. And as you say, he has plenty of company in that (among those who want to "tell us something").