Author Topic: 1SO vs. All the Directors  (Read 85609 times)

Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: 1SO vs. All the Directors
« Reply #100 on: November 17, 2017, 07:11:16 AM »
Google lies sometimes.

DarkeningHumour

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Re: 1SO vs. All the Directors
« Reply #101 on: November 17, 2017, 08:35:46 AM »
Forsooth.
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1SO

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1SO vs. All the Directors - Ashby, Hal
« Reply #102 on: November 19, 2017, 08:47:48 AM »
#27. Hal Ashby Ranked List

I like Ashby and if you haven't seen any of his work it's worth committing to Marathon his 7 films from the 70s. After that, it's a pretty steep drop in quality. I've seen all his features except Second-Hand Hearts and Lookin' to Get Out (rated 4.9 and 5.1 on IMDB). Maybe it's the month, but I'm interested in re-watching his final feature, 8 Million Ways to Die (a more respectable 5.7), which I saw on HBO 30 years ago.

1SO

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1SO vs. All the Directors - Powell and Pressburger
« Reply #103 on: November 20, 2017, 12:20:22 AM »
#28. Powell & Pressburger Ranked List

There seems to be some disagreement as to which films should be in this thread, with some posts including Powell's solo directing credits and The Thief of Bagdad (1940) where Powell is one of 6 credited directors. It doesn't help that the poll itself is organized in no particular order, but I would rather leave it alone than rebuild it with a chronological poll so I simply added the option of 'other'. I also included alternate titles since 7 of the 15 films they made together are known equally by two different titles.

For this Marathon, I am looking strictly at films directed by both of them. (Perhaps it is worth creating a separate thread for Michael Powell's solo projects.) Looking at that list I plan to watch The Small Back Room (aka. Hour of Glory) and Gone to Earth.

pixote

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Re: 1SO vs. All the Directors - Powell and Pressburger
« Reply #104 on: November 20, 2017, 12:30:42 AM »
...The Thief of Bagdad (1940) where Powell is one of 6 credited directors...

'credited' in the IMDb sense, perhaps, but only Berger, Powell, and Whelan are actually credited by the film itself.

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DarkeningHumour

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Re: 1SO vs. All the Directors
« Reply #105 on: November 20, 2017, 05:45:19 AM »
That is by far one of the rankings I am going to be most interested in as far as this project goes. Mankiewicz would rank at the top too.
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1SO

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Re: 1SO vs. All the Directors
« Reply #106 on: November 20, 2017, 11:30:42 PM »
...The Thief of Bagdad (1940) where Powell is one of 6 credited directors...

'credited' in the IMDb sense, perhaps, but only Berger, Powell, and Whelan are actually credited by the film itself.

pixote
So if I create a thread for just Powell, should Thief of Bagdad go in? Is it worth the poll when we know Peeping Tom is going to run away with it?


That is by far one of the rankings I am going to be most interested in as far as this project goes. Mankiewicz would rank at the top too.
Mankiewicz is #64 and I am a fan.

I forgot to mention my overall thoughts on Powell & Pressburger, which is that like most I think they're superb and there's usually a feeling of cinematic invention to their work, either with the visual direction or story structure. What holds me back is I often take half the running time getting into one of their films beyond admiration from a distance - A Matter of Life and Death being the exception - and I'm often exhausted by the end.

DarkeningHumour

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Re: 1SO vs. All the Directors
« Reply #107 on: November 21, 2017, 04:43:53 AM »
Nonsense. Lermontov is in the very first scenes of The Red Shoes. He's your way in.
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pixote

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Re: 1SO vs. All the Directors
« Reply #108 on: November 21, 2017, 05:19:44 AM »
So if I create a thread for just Powell, should Thief of Bagdad go in? Is it worth the poll when we know Peeping Tom is going to run away with it?

I'd vote for Bagdad for Tom (pending rewatches of both), but I don't know whether the former really belongs in a Powell poll (even though it's easy to imagine that he's responsible for so much of what's great about the film).

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1SO

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Re: 1SO vs. All the Directors
« Reply #109 on: November 21, 2017, 09:46:25 AM »
Nonsense. Lermontov is in the very first scenes of The Red Shoes. He's your way in.

He's not my way into Victoria and her hopes and dreams, which is the core of the movie. I takes half the film to get into Julian Craster, who pulls Victoria in a direction away from Lermontov.

The Archers can have great openings, but they don't pull me in like A Matter of Life and Death, which is about our main relationship. Red Shoes starts with the students in the balcony. That pulls us into Lermontov, but not yet into the film. This is like how there's the great opening sequence to Colonel Blimp - "The war starts at midnight." - but it takes Clive Candy's deepening friendship with the German officer for the film itself to start taking on a lasting impact.