Vizigothe's strange and cult movie pit

**vizi** · July 02, 2009, 12:48 PM

Hmmm....well Clark Gable is a good actor from that period.

I will reserve my opinion on your sexuality.

**Harry Lime** · July 06, 2009, 05:48 AM

Looking forward to The Treasure of the Sierra Madre review, one of my favourite films

**vizi** · July 09, 2009, 04:38 AM

Originally Posted by Harry Lime

Looking forward to The Treasure of the Sierra Madre review, one of my favourite films

That shall be my next review, after the review I am about to post. I am also going to start posting this on my Facebook. A.J. Albright for those also interested in my musing about movies and other, more banal things...

-----------------------

House on Haunted Hill
by William Castle. Released in 1959.

A trailer for the movie.

The ghosts on the House on Haunted Hill are waiting for you to join them, for all eternity. Join us on Haunted Hill, it's certain to be a ghastly time!

Frederick Loren, played by Vincent Price, is a millionaire eccentric, and is throwing a party for his wife. A ghost party, that is. He arranged to rent the house from Watson Pritchard, and invited him and four other people to spend one night in the house. One night with Mr. Loren and his lovely wife Annabelle Loren, for 10,000 dollars. Everyone shows up for the money, or so they say...

We have the dashing Lance Schroeder, a test pilot. Nora Manning, a single parent who needs the money to help her family. Dr. David Trent, a psychologist who wants to document hysteria, because there is obviously no such thing as ghosts. Ruth Bridges, a gambling addict and newspaper columnist. And finally Watson, the owner of the house, and deathly araid of the ghosts in the house.

As Watson informs the guests, 4 men and 3 women have died in the house. They remain as ghosts, malevolent and violent. Driving people into fits of madness and fear and causing violent and strange deaths. In fact Watson sister-in-law chopped up Watson's brother and her sister with a knife. So thorough that the heads were never found. Ironically, in the house this evening are 7 people. 4 men and 3 women, an auspicious beginning indeed.

Quickly we notice tension between Frederick and Annabelle. Annabelle is Frederick's 4th wife, the previous 2 dying young of heart attacks and the 1st disappeared and was never seen again. Their dialouge hints at a murderous marriage between the two, a dance of death if you will.

Watson hits the scotch pretty heavily as the movie goes along, he is clearly terrified, and rambles on and on about the ghosts. Nora is quite edgy and nervous and seems to be the perfect target for ghosts. And to top it off, Frederick gives each guest a loaded semi-automatic pistol, his wife's idea, naturally. The plot thickens. A murderous couple in a house with complete strangers, all carrying loaded guns, what could possibly go wrong you say?!

I do not want to go into the movie too much, it would ruin all the fun! Although the movie does do some excellent work with darkness in the creepy house. Combined with a bewitching theme music and cheap shocks, it does it's job quite well. The movie isn't long and it keeps you watching. I have to say, it suffers some from age. Mostly because in the age of CGI and expensive special effects, the effects seem kind of cheap and cheesy, and some would say lack that more realistic edge to them. I personally do not mind, it adds to the character of the film. It was made in 1959, so I gave the movie some leeway.

Adding immensely to the movie is of course, Mr. Vincent Price. Such a perfect voice for the haunting Frederick Loren. He was quite enjoyable. Not to mention, Richard Long, who played Lance Schroeder, to me seems to have the look and sound of your prototypical 50's era American man. Tall, firm and confident. This would be why we beat the Reds. People like Lance Schroeder.

Overall I am going to give this movie a 80% for plenty of Vincent Price and fun screams, ghosts and ghouls!

or

:/10

The movie is public domain. Here is a link for those interested.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...70867565004601

**Henry of Grosmont** · July 09, 2009, 05:52 AM

Originally Posted by Harry Lime

Looking forward to The Treasure of the Sierra Madre review, one of my favourite films

Plus, how can you not like Humphrey?

I'll put another one for your consideration. Many aren't familiar with it, but I'm sure you, guys, have watched this movie. I'm not talking about acting or anything else here, although Mitchum is good. It's just one of those works where you can really appreciate an amazing director.

The Night of the Hunter

Director: Charles Laughton

**vizi** · July 21, 2009, 07:41 PM

La cité des enfants perdus
by Marc Caro and Jean-Oierre Jeunet. Released in 1995.

A trailer for the movie.

Once again, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre is delayed. My local cable provider is now offering free, complimentary movies. I decided to investigate. I was treated well.

This is a surreal, steam-punk world. Add a dash of theatre of the absurd and you have this gem. La cité des enfants perdus.

The villian of the film, Krank, was created by lonely scientist, and sadly Krank cannot dream. Because he cannot dream, he aged too fast. However he has devised a way around that. He steals the dreams of small children. However, the children are scared of Krank, he is a monsterous being. And they only have nightmares. So he is trying to find a child that isn't afraid of him.

Krank is trading technology to a cult of people, called the Cyclops, for children. And of course the Cyclops mess with the wrong little child. They kidnap Denree. Denree's big brother, One, is big. Actually that is an understatement. One is a circus strongman and former whale hunter. One hooks up with Miette, a young orphan, in an attempt to rescue little brother.

Together they form a marvelous team. Despite the perils and mishaps, the theatre of the absurd always seems to come through for the heroes. I found the relationship between One and Miette to be touching and heartwarming. One is such a lovable guy, that he chips away at Miette's distrust of adults. Street urchin orphans, have it rough and are often used by adults. Miette and One were the highlight of the film for me.

Speaking of highlights, amazingly the relationship between One and Miette was crafted so well, that it out shined the visuals. Which were crafted quite well. La cité des enfants perdus is a bleak, washed out world, mixed with interesting angles, machines and architecture. It presents such a bleak atmosphere that you truly do feel lost, just watching the film.

I highly reccomend this movie. If you like the surreal, steam punk or theatre of the absurd find this movie, somewhere. And watch it. I am giving the movie a 90%

or

/10

**Harry Lime** · July 22, 2009, 05:46 AM

Hmmm..never seen that film. I'll look out for it on the goggle box

@Henry of Grosmont

The Night of the Hunter is a superb film. Very dark, tense and wonderful acting from the ensemble cast + one of the most striking images found in any film. No spoilers, if you've seen it you know what I mean.

**Henry of Grosmont** · July 22, 2009, 06:26 AM

Edit.
Found it.

If you liked La cité des enfants perdus, take a look at this one.

Mirror Mask
2005

**vizi** · July 22, 2009, 01:03 PM

My friend has that movie. He keeps telling me to see it. Isn't it about the girl trying to run away from the circus?

And HL, I hadn't ever heard of the movie either. My cable provider was offering it for free. I saw that it was French and had Ron Perlman in it. And I became interested.

I was rewarded.

Treasure of the Sierra Madre will be up later today!

**Henry of Grosmont** · July 23, 2009, 02:51 AM

Originally Posted by Unorthodoxt

My friend has that movie. He keeps telling me to see it. Isn't it about the girl trying to run away from the circus?

More about a self-generated guilt trip story

**vizi** · July 23, 2009, 02:46 PM

Aha...

Well, I lied. No Sierra Madre. Had to go help my grandma around her house. Maybe today?

**Harry Lime** · July 23, 2009, 03:05 PM

Originally Posted by Unorthodoxt

Aha...

Well, I lied. No Sierra Madre. Had to go help my grandma around her house. Maybe today?

No worries, Vizi.

Perhaps we should start splitting the review up three ways? You know, each man responsible for his own share.

**vizi** · July 23, 2009, 09:34 PM

That works. I have no problem with that. I like watching movies, but sometimes I just don't have time to fit in all the things I want to do.

Like today, I accidentally explored half of Williams County Ohio because my friend took the wrong exit off the turnpike...

**vizi** · July 24, 2009, 02:31 PM

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
by John Huston. Released in 1948.

A trailer for the movie.

Originally Posted by Howard

I know what gold does to men's souls.

This movie won 3 Oscars. John Huston won 2 for best director and best screenplay. His father, Walter Huston won for best actor in a supporting role. (Random trivia fact: John Huston's daughter, Anjelica Huston won an Oscar for best actress in a supporting rold in Prizzi's Honor. A movie John Huston directed. Thus, if I remember correctly, John Huston is the only person to direct a parent and a child to Oscar wins.)

This movie has also been recognized by the Library of Congress and the United States National Film Registry as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." Which might not be that great of an honor. I mean the Zapruder film is in there. Seriously? A home video? Man, now I gotta go film some famous event and be immortalized in the Library of Congress! Not to mention being widely recognized by AFI. #67 in thrills, #36 in quotes and #38 in movies. Not exactly a cult movie. However, it is a very old movie, and a majority of my contempories have never seen this movie, or never even heard of the movie. Which is a shame. But I guess if you think Hostel is worthy of a sequel, then be my guest.

Enough false sense of superiority from me.

(Wait a second! False? Bull! I am superior!)

Damnable inner monolouge, be quiet! Trying to review a movie here!

Back to the movie. This movie, is well simply amazing. The three major characters, Dobbs, Curtin and Howard are all superb. Excellent acting. Bogart is ace, he is exactly why you go to see a Bogart movie. Tim Holt as Curtin is also refreshing. And Walter Huston as Howard, well Howard is by far the best character in the movie, as far as I am concerned, as well as the Academy Awards. Who knew they had such high standards, agreeing with me and all...

Hobbs and Curtin are down on their luck. Been used and abused and mistreated in ole Tampico, Mexico. They are both having a hard time getting two centavos to rub together. They run into a crazy old coot, Howard. A gold miner who claims to have won and lost more then his fair share of fortunes. Hobbs and Curtin finally find a way to get some money that was due to them, and find Howard to ask about prospecting for gold. Howard agrees to go, hell he has one more fortune in him! Howard predicts that bad things will happen, gold poisons the soul. But Howard agrees to go. Hell, I could have predicted that, what else would the movie be about? Them finding gold and then skipping home to the promised land of filled with cigarrette trees and steams of whiskey? Actually, that sounds like a good place to go...

This is a classic movie about adventure, struggle and kharma. The struggle with nature, the struggle with self, and the struggle against others. The scenery is hard and unforgiving. The people look hard and weatherbeaten. It is a good visual, it fits the movie. Along with a nice simple but effective soundtrack.

The other highlight of this movie, beyond the main story itself and the outcome is the Mexican bandits. Gold Hat, played by Alfonso Bedoya was amazing. His character was ammusing, and at the same time ruthless.

Originally Posted by Gold Hat

Badges? We ain't got no badges. We don't need no badges. I don't have to show you any stinking badges.

Finally, you have to see this movie if you haven't already. It's a dusty trail beaten trail of human hope and wreckage that is so worth it. It is one of the best movies out there. And a huge inspiration for the Indiana Jones movies. I will give this movie a 95%, only because I am loath to give any movie a 100%. Perfection is best left to dieties. Sorry Bogart.

or

/10

**Harry Lime** · July 24, 2009, 02:51 PM

I loved this movie so much I bought the Bogart signature box-set to get it. Not too bad a deal as it has The Maltese Falcon (another 9.5 film) and Casablanca as well. High Sierra sucks though.

Anyway, a most intelligent review Vizi and a thoroughly accurate score. Only a few dozen films can genuinely be called classics and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre is definitely one of those. Did you spot John Huston as the Rich White American that Bogie bums money off at the start?

**Henry of Grosmont** · July 24, 2009, 02:54 PM

Great review

Originally Posted by Harry Lime

Perhaps we should start splitting the review up three ways? You know, each man responsible for his own share.

It will work with me only if I watched it recently (which isn't happening often these days).
You have to have fresh memories and emotions to write it in full.
If I catch something worthy of attention, I'll try to write the full review. Meanwhile, I'll just post a couple of sentences about the works I'm promoting here. If it's fine with you, of course...

P.S. The blame is on you, guys. You're bringing up great movies and it reminds me of some others.

Edit.
The Maltese Falcon, in my opinion, is the definition of a "Bogart movie".

**vizi** · July 24, 2009, 02:55 PM

No I did not. Honestly, John Huston to me, is an old man.

Thanks for agreeing! It is a classic, by all definitions.

And you can review, or promote. Everyone has been giving me great suggestions, or reminding me of great movies that I should be rewatching and thus reviewing.

And I had to finish Treasure of the Sierra Madre! I watched the 1st half, realized I had to run some errands, and then got so busy during the next two days that I couldn't finish the movie. Quite frustrating!

Edit: Also, have you seen Viking Prince's thread in the Q&S about Reviews awards for the site?

**Harry Lime** · July 24, 2009, 03:07 PM

Yes, I have seen VP's thread. Shame I resigned as Admin, I could have sneaked it through without anyone noticing.

@Henry of Grosmont

Oh dear, I seem to have been misunderstood all-round. My post was an ad-hoc quote from Treasure of the Sierra Madre about the sharing of the gold. I do not wish any share of the reviewing gold that Vizi is currently sluicing from these valuable movies. It's his mountain and we should let him work it until the ore runs dry.

Perhaps we can act as Federales and chase off the occasional bandit that comes snooping around?

**vizi** · July 24, 2009, 03:11 PM

Haha! I cannot believe I let that one go right over my head!

I won't let this one go over my head.

It's my share! I know you were snooping around for it! Planning on running out on me with my goods!

**Henry of Grosmont** · July 24, 2009, 03:42 PM

Good with me, for I never intended to sneak into vizi's thread. I thought that you suggested... oh, well.
I, too, missed that one

**Viking Prince** · July 25, 2009, 12:29 PM

Bogie's social outcast role in the Treasure of Sierra Madre reminds me of an earlier film where he plays Duke Mantee in the Petrified Forest. btw -- the Petrified Forrest is really one of his better movies, though it is not really a Bogart film (Leslie Howard and a very enticing Bette Davis). I had better stop before I hijack this thread with a review of my own!