Poll

What's your favorite film by Jacques Tourneur?

Cat People
3 (12.5%)
I Walked with a Zombie
1 (4.2%)
The Leopard Man
0 (0%)
Days of Glory
0 (0%)
Experiment Perilous
0 (0%)
Canyon Passage
2 (8.3%)
Out of the Past
11 (45.8%)
Berlin Express
0 (0%)
Easy Living
0 (0%)
Stars in My Crown
0 (0%)
The Flame and the Arrow
1 (4.2%)
Anne of the Indies
0 (0%)
Stranger on Horseback
0 (0%)
Wichita
0 (0%)
Great Day in the Morning
0 (0%)
Nightfall
0 (0%)
Night of the Demon
1 (4.2%)
The Fearmakers
0 (0%)
The Comedy of Terrors
0 (0%)
other (please specifiy)
0 (0%)
haven't seen any
4 (16.7%)
don't like any
1 (4.2%)

Total Members Voted: 23

Author Topic: Tourneur, Jacques  (Read 7311 times)

sdedalus

  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 16585
  • I have a prestigious blog, sir!
    • The End of Cinema
Re: Directors Best Poll - Jacques Tourneur
« Reply #10 on: March 20, 2011, 01:13:33 AM »
I've got that book, but I don't think I've seen enough of his films to read it yet.
The End of Cinema

Seattle Screen Scene

"He was some kind of a man. What does it matter what you say about people?"

roujin

  • Moderator
  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 15508
  • it's all research
Re: Directors Best Poll - Jacques Tourneur
« Reply #11 on: August 10, 2011, 11:26:25 PM »
Experiment Perilous Jacques Tourneur, 1944

George Brent is some city doctor who's returning to the big city after a trip. He meets up with some crazy old lady on the train and because of that encounter gets caught up in the mysterious shenanigans of her family, who may or may not all be insane. Soon enough he's all up on Hedy Lamarr (who's all stifled and going insane) and talking about daisies and poetry. It's never a big mystery exactly what's going on and I don't think the film makes a big deal out of that aspect of the film. It instead goes after  more of a feeling of unease, which seems to hang around all of the film's sets. The field of Daisies of Lamarr's past soon gets attached to other painful memories. But Tourneur can't infuse the material with any sort of momentum or energy. The possessive fervor of Lukas' character barely registers at all on the film, and it all comes off rather dispassionate. Shrug.
« Last Edit: February 29, 2020, 02:55:17 PM by 1SO »

sdedalus

  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 16585
  • I have a prestigious blog, sir!
    • The End of Cinema
Re: Directors Best Poll - Jacques Tourneur
« Reply #12 on: August 11, 2011, 12:11:06 AM »
I don't think I've ever heard of that, but if it's got Hedy Lamarr, I'll see it.
The End of Cinema

Seattle Screen Scene

"He was some kind of a man. What does it matter what you say about people?"

roujin

  • Moderator
  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 15508
  • it's all research
Re: Directors Best Poll - Jacques Tourneur
« Reply #13 on: August 11, 2011, 12:16:54 AM »
She looks quite good in this, yes.

Drew_Hunt

  • Junior Member
  • *
  • Posts: 70
  • Movies are cool
    • Twitter
Re: Directors Best Poll - Jacques Tourneur
« Reply #14 on: October 19, 2011, 07:59:09 PM »
Love Tourneur...

1. Canyon Passage
2. Cat People
3. Easy Living
4. I Walked with a Zombie
5. Out of the Past
6. Stars in My Crown
7. Night of the Demon/Curse of the Demon
8. The Fearmakers
9. Experiment Perilous
10. The Leopard Man
11. Wichita
12. Berlin Express
13. Anne of the Indies
14. War-Gods of the Deep (this is actually one of the very worst films I've ever seen)
"Not beautiful photography, not beautiful pictures, but rather necessary pictures, necessary photography." -- Robert Bresson

Follow me on twitter!

Totoro

  • Guest
Re: Directors Best Poll - Jacques Tourneur
« Reply #15 on: October 19, 2011, 08:21:12 PM »
Out of the Past (B+)

 :-\

roujin

  • Moderator
  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 15508
  • it's all research
Re: Directors Best Poll - Jacques Tourneur
« Reply #16 on: January 21, 2012, 11:57:44 PM »
Stars in my Crown Jacques Tourneur, 1950

Had no idea why I thought this was an actual western. It's more a of a small town community picture, like Ford's The Sun Shines Bright or To Kill a Mockingbird. Tourneur creates a vivid sense of community and place here. You get the schoolhouse with the well, the ailing doctor and his son, the great Arthur Hunicutt playing some guy named Chloroform (lol), some random black guy named Famous who teaches the Boy With the Green Hair how to fish or whatever. And then there's the wonderful Joel McCrea as the town parson, who for his first sermon, walks into a the saloon with his bible and his gun and starts preaching. I liked the tension between the doctor and the parson and how both men and their beliefs fit within the community; how they were different and how they complimented each other. The whole thing gets surprisingly dark for something I thought would be all nostalgic Americana. The film's portrayal of racism and hatred arising from economic instability is scary. The film's racists are just frustrated everyday folk looking for somebody to blame. Its reconciliatory vision is one that I found useful and deeply moving. Plus: other weird stuff that I already forgot.
« Last Edit: February 29, 2020, 02:55:26 PM by 1SO »

sdedalus

  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 16585
  • I have a prestigious blog, sir!
    • The End of Cinema
Re: Directors Best Poll - Jacques Tourneur
« Reply #17 on: January 22, 2012, 11:20:25 AM »
Such a good movie.  It's the film people want To Kill a Mockingbird to be.
The End of Cinema

Seattle Screen Scene

"He was some kind of a man. What does it matter what you say about people?"

roujin

  • Moderator
  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 15508
  • it's all research
Re: Directors Best Poll - Jacques Tourneur
« Reply #18 on: January 22, 2012, 05:19:11 PM »
That's one I need to revisit. Hopefully it can work for me as an actual movie without any of the school curriculum baggage that I always associate with it.

Antares

  • Godfather
  • *****
  • Posts: 5013
Re: Directors Best Poll - Jacques Tourneur
« Reply #19 on: January 22, 2012, 05:27:12 PM »
Out of the Past

Cat People

I own the Val Lewton set, but still haven't watched The Leopard Man or I Walked with a Zombie:-[
Masterpiece (100-91) | Classic (90-80) | Entertaining (79-69) | Mediocre (68-58) | Cinemuck (57-21) | Crap (20-0)