We figured it was time to have a place to talk about Steve’s latest video subjects that do not have an UMR page.
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We figured it was time to have a place to talk about Steve’s latest video subjects that do not have an UMR page.
Growing up in the 1950’s I didn’t take much notice of directors but George Seaton was one of the exceptions as he formed a partnership with William Perlberg and Perlberg-Seaton productions were flagged up just like the Disney and Hitchcock brands and to me a Perlberg-Seaton production was a guarantee of solid entertainment. I have seen 10 of the following 13 movies they made together between 1952 and 1963. Perlberg produced all of them and George’s part in the collaboration is mentioned in the brackets.
1964 36 Hours (Director/writer)
1963The Hook (director)
1962The Counterfeit Traitor (producer/director/writer)
1961The Pleasure of His Company (director)
1960The Rat Race (producer)
1959But Not for Me (producer)***
1958Teacher’s Pet (producer/director)
1957The Tin Star (producer)
1956The Proud and Profane (director/writer)
1954The Bridges at Toko-Ri (producer)
1954The Country Girl (producer/director/writer)
1953Little Boy Lost (director/writer)
1952Somebody Loves Me (producer)
“They’re writing songs of love***
But not for me
A lucky star’s above
But not for me”
1959 CRITICAL REVIEW HEADLINE:
Oh you rascally old dog Mr Gable!
I rated your video 99%, to some extent because of all the Betty Grable material most of which I enjoyed. Here are the other entries that I most liked.
POSTERS-FL=Foreign Language one
1/FL for Proud and Profane
2/first one for Showdown
3/FL for The Big Lift
4/Little Boy Lost
5/Apartment for Myrna
6/first 2 for Counterfeit Traitor – an underrated Golden Holden flick
7/Bruce’s Pet
8/first one for Airport-Burt’s last great hit in a starring role
9/36 Hours
10/second one for Where Do We Go from Here
11/The two Jack benny posters
12/two for Miracle on 34th Street
STILLS/LOBBY CARDS
1/Eve of St Mark
2/Fred looking romantic
3/Proud and Profane- rare unpleasant character role for Golden
4/Monty
5/George Peppard [I think]
6/Kirk
7/That Night in Manchester
8/two for Thing Called Love
9/Bing
10/Counterfeit Traitor
11/My Doris and her King
12/36 Hours
13/trio in The Country Girl – that one brings back especially vivid memories.
14/Bruce Willis
And as said almost all featuring Betty Grable, most of which are quite racy!
Hi Bob, thanks for the review, generous rating (ooo), info and trivia, much appreciated. Glad you liked the posters, stills and lobby cards.
Betty Grable fan eh? Was she one of your pinups as a young man? Was Grable the one with the million dollar legs? Is she related to Clark Grable? [Stop it Steve!]
That was George Peppard, wearing a not very convincing beard, with Mary Tyler Moore in the still from ‘Whats So Bad About Feeling Good?’
38 classic director videos in a row, starting in September, making this my longest video subject run to date. Briefly interrupted by videos on Stephen King and John Carpenter at Halloween.
One film scored 10 out of 10 from my sources and that is – Miracle on 34th Street. Four films scored 9 – Airport, Counterfeit Traitor, The Country Girl and The Song of Bernadette.
Bruce’s top 5 (critics chart) –
Miracle on 34th St. 8.6
The Country Girl 7.7
The Song of Bernadette 7.7
36 Hours 7.6
Ten Gentlemen from West Point 7.5
My video top 5 –
Miracle on 34th St. 8.6
The Song of Bernadette 7.8
The Country Girl 7.6
36 Hours 7.4
Airport 7.3
This was my last video of 2019. I’ll have a nice long break now and be back in the new year with a new series of videos. Merry Christmas!
Thanks for the comprehensive feedback. I found Grable in her heyday very attractive and she fulfilled Bette Davis’ definition of a real star: one who pulls his/her weight at the box office. Unlike say The Thin Woman who was carried along by Other People’s Movies -like those of Gable/Bill Powell and Al Leach- Grable was the top billed star in a long run of stand-alone roles where she had the support of just B list leading men etc.
Of course it added to her appeal for me that she had an extra-martial affair with my Rory Calhoun, and indeed I think that affair might have been cited as among the ‘grounds’ in divorce proceedings against one or both of the pair. I take your point about Grable/Gable. When the movies were new to me and my boyhood pals, we would often in our young confusion refer to Clark Grable/Betty Gable. Today Betty, like other legends such as Bing, Leslie Townes and my Doris tend not to make ranking lists of The Greats because guys like Hirsch look down on them as “mere light entertainers” with their magnitude as stars in their heyday massively overlooked.
Do you remember my saying to you some time ago that even when away from movie-making and/or posing for photographs, stars tend to stand/sit in the order of their billing to each other on the screen and in the posters. You provide an excellent example of that in your vintage posed publicity still for That Night in Manchester: Alice, Don and Carmen are all standing in the precise order of their billing on your posters.
By the way, I was thinking of you last night and your fan-worship of Hitchcock. I was watching a repeat of a 1973 episode of TV’s Columbo titled Lovely but Lethal guest-starring Vera Miles as the murderer and in one scene she is trying to assure Columbo that she had not committed the murder and so she says “I couldn’t kill anyone. I wouldn’t even harm a fly!” Clearly her personal homage to her nostalgic times with The Master of Suspense! Apparently, they got on well together. Anyway I hope your weekend is going well.
HI STEVE I know box office is not your thing; but you might be interested in the article that I have copied to Part Two as it has possible implications for future input to this site, and I’m not sure if you will be covering in your videos films released via the likes of Netflix.
If a trend now develops whereby major Hollywood productions are released via TV outlets, a problem for the Cogerson site is that if for example Bruce Willis makes several BIG films that are exhibited in such a way, how would Cogerson give Willis due box office credit for those movies?
The apparent timidity over releasing The Irishman in the old way via cinema audiences does not really surprise me WE Irish never did get much love in the cinema. If the movie had been called The Englishman or The Brexiteer I am sure it would have out-grossed Star Wars by now!
Anyway the good news for people like me [what about you?] who are Netflix subscribers is that we can watch the movie THIS VERY DAY in the comfort of our own homes. Pacino, DeNiro, Pesci and Scorsese have sure dined out over the years on The Mafia and organised crime generally on the screen.
To his credit though The Great Mumbler never milked the “Mob” genre and largely left it alone post Godpop One and looked around for “fresh worlds to conquer”, apart from sending up his Don Corleone role in the crime comedy 1990’s The Freshman. As I’ve said before Mr M saw himself as a man for only originals: not for HIM Stars Wars Episode 199: The Birth of Obi Wan’s Great Great Grandfather: Episode 200 The Force versus The Alien; Dire Hard No 87: The Director’s Christmas Cut.
STEVE: You know a lot more than I do about the different outlets for film distribution including the post-cinema release packaging and marketing of films, so I would be grateful for any thoughts you have on this matter. I’ve just started to watch the movie on Netflix
“THE IRISHMAN 2019 Running Times 3hrs 20mins
Sadly for The Irishman, very little has been made at the box office so far. With it only having a limited release, very few cinemas have screened it, meaning a lower number of ticket sales for the movie. It has been estimated the international gross for The Irishman sits at around $607,420 (£470,055. This is incredibly measly, especially when compared to its budget which is estimated at a staggering $160million (£124million.)
However, because of the film’s deal with Netflix, it will get a huge release on the platform, which will mean the movie’s success will not necessarily be measured by box office takings. Instead, Netflix will release how many times the movie has been watched, and by how many people, which will help it to work out how successful The Irishman is.
With that, the movie’s budget has been paid for through the subscription service, meaning subscribers have contributed to the movie’s massive budget. As a result, and with the hype of The Irishman still strongly felt, it seems unlikely this movie will be a flop despite only earning approximately a small percentage of its budget back. Clearly though it will not be a big profit taker under its current exhibition arrangements.”
Hi Bob, you know more about The Irishman’s stat details and grosses than I do. The big question is how does Netflix make a profit from financing these big expensive movies? They don’t carry adverts so they hope they can attract more and more subscribers.
I watched The Irishman on Netflix in one sitting, 3.5 hours! I know others that have been watching about an hour each day. Do you have Netflix? Anyway it remembers where you left off so if you return to your film or show a week later it resumes from the point you stopped it. Very useful!
Btw it wasn’t one of my favorite Scorsese films and might be ages before I watch it again. The CG effects to make the aging legends look younger wasn’t convincing, to me anyway.
I also watched a recent Michael Bay action film premiering on Netflix – 6 Underground – starring Ryan Reynolds, it cost $150m to make according to Wikipedia. Where is the profit, no ads, not even much publicity that it was coming to netflix. Madness! And with more and more streaming services on the horizon including Disney, people will have to choose carefully how much they want to fork out monthly on streaming media. So far I’m happy with netflix, long may it reign.
HI STEVE
Thanks for your thoughts on The Irishman and Netflix. Yes I do have Netflix and have started watching The Irishman.
According to Gorgeous George Clooney producers today have their a** so well covered by deals with the like of Netflex, DVD sales and insurance arrangements that the producers rarely lose money even if the film is not an overall box office success.
However if a lot of the earnings of a film are not going though cinema box offices will stats guys like The Work Horse be defunct in the near future? They’ll have less and less to feed off if actual box office results stop being published.
Since 2014’s Wolf of Wall Street Scorsese hasn’t had a cinematic hit and the last 15 productions with which he has been involved in one technical function or other have had an overall adjusted US gross of just $30 million – a miserable average of only $2 million per flick. In ACTUAL dollars at least, Wolf of Wall Street has been Scorsese’s highest grossing movie ever. with a worldwide gross of just under $400 million. It had US Home Market sales of a further $40 million.
Pacino and DeNiro are on the cusp of 80 years old and may have little box office pull left in them, unless of course they get into a highly energetic action hero franchise! Pesci, though WH thinks he’s the bees knees, NEVER DID have box office written all over him.
I hope you enjoy your Christmas break. Neither live hard nor die hard, but just rest hard while you’re away!
Added Steve’s Sam Fuller video. Our thoughts on his video and Fuller’s movies are listed below.
Nice new selection. I have only seen 3 of the 20 movies, but those 3 are in the Top 5. Seen #5 The Naked Kiss….a cult classic…but my least favorite of three Fuller directed movies I have seen. #1 The Pickup on South Street is a very good movie, with one of the best performances from Richard Widmark. My favorite Fuller movie would be #2 The Big Red One…a movie that I have seen many times. I especially enjoy Robert Carradine playing Sam Fuller. Added bonus is you get a young Mark Hamill as well. Voted up and shared.
Hi Bruce, thanks for checking out my Sam Fuller video, the vote and share are much appreciated. Your tally 3, mine 4 and Flora 7. The Big Red One is my favorite too, of the 4 Fuller films I’ve seen. There are others here I want to see some day.
Despite its brevity Your Samuel Fuller video has much nostalgic content for me and attracts a personal satisfaction rating of 98% for its overall quality.
BEST POSTERS-FL=foreign language
1/Shark
2/1st two for Hell and High Water
3/Verboten
4/set for Merrill’s Marauders
5/FL for 40 Guns
6/3 great FLs for House of Bamboo
7/Fixed Bayonets
8/White Dog
9/two for Underworld USA
10/two for Naked Kiss
11/FL for Steel Helmet
12/two for Big Red One
13/a classy set for Pickup in South Street
STILLS
1/Baron of Arizona
2/Big Jeff
3/Run of the Arrow
4/I Shot Jesse James
5/is that Angie showing us her legs in China Gate?
6/House of Bamboo
7/Young Dean – virtually unrecognizable in helmet- collector’s item.
8/Shock Corridor
9/Lee Marvin
10/my Richard and Mrs Howard Hughes from 1957 until 1971 – vintage stuff!
ADDITIONAL TRIVIA After seeing a preview of Pickup on South Street, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover demanded a meeting with studio boss Darryl F. Zanuck and the film’s director/writer Samuel Fuller. Hoover objected to the unpatriotic nature of Widmark’s Skip McCoy, even when Skip realizes he’s dealing with communists. Zanuck refused to make any changes to the film, backing Fuller. This ended the studio’s close relationship with the FBI and all references to the agency were removed from the film’s advertising, posters and lobby card
Hi Bob, thanks for reviewing my Sam Fuller video, the generous rating, info and trivia are much appreciated. Glad you liked the picture gallery.
I’ve only seen 4 of Sam Fuller’s films – Pickup on South Street, Hell and High Water, Run of the Arrow and The Big Red One. I want to see a few more.
Fuller seemed to like controversial subjects. Knee jerk reaction to his 1982 film White Dog labeled it as racist but a few critics realised that it had an anti-racist message. A white dog is trained by it’s racist owner to only attack black people.
That was young Angie Dickinson in the still from China Gate. An even younger James Dean in the still from Fixed Bayonets, his movie debut. He was 20.
There are no 10 scores for Sam from my sources. Three films scored 9 out of 10 – Shock Corridor, The Big Red One and Pickup on South Street. Four more scored 8.
Bruce’s top 5 (critics chart) –
Pickup on South Street 8.3
The Big Red One 8.3
Forty Guns 7.6
The Steel Helmet 7.5
Underworld USA 7.3
My video top 5 –
Pickup on South Street 8.2
The Big Red One 8.1
Shock Corridor 7.9
The Steel Helmet 7.8
The Naked Kiss 7.3
“Ninety-five per cent of films are born of frustration, of self-despair, of ambition for survival, for money, for fattening bank accounts. Five per cent, maybe less, are made because a man has an idea, an idea which he must express.”
“I write with the camera. It is my typewriter.”
“I hate violence. But that has never prevented me from using it in my films.”
HI STEVE: Thanks for the feedback including interesting quotes and a round-up of scores.
In his films my Richard seemed to have a fascination for communist-related themes and taking a stand against the Soviet Union: Pickup on South Street, Hell and High Water, The Bedford Incident and The Secret Ways all have central themes about opposing communism and the Soviet Union.
In The Bedford Incident Richard, as the fanatical captain of an American ocean destroyer, relentlessly pursues and harries a Russian Submarine even though the US and Soviet Union are not at war; and he nicknames the sub “Big Red”.
His 1961 Secret Ways [based on an Alistair MacLean novel] set amidst the crushing of the 1956 Hungarian Uprising by Soviet Union tanks, will always have vivid memories for me because I watched it over here just before I went off to enlist in the British Royal Air Force in England. I hope that even J Edgar would have conceded that I was being ‘patriotic’!
I wouldn’t have recognised Dean if your still hadn’t revealed who he was. I did know that Fixed Bayonets was his first role on the big screen [albeit uncredited] and always found that humorous. Brando apparently took Jimmy aside on one occasion and cautioned him against continuing to imitate The Great Mumbler; and Brando’s first film the year before – The Men aka Battle Stripe – had a war-related theme as the aka suggests, so I always wondered whether Jimmy signed up for ‘Bayonets’ as part of his ‘Imitation Game’! Anyway take care and keep safe.
Whilst Samuel was involved with a few prestigious big budget movies such as my Richard’s Hell and High Water and House of Bamboo [ a remake actually of Widmark’s 1948 classic The Street with No Name] Sam was known more for low budget quickly made productions, often with little known actors such as Gene Evans.
Examples are Shockproof; Scandal Sheet [aka The Dark page] Fixed Bayonets; cold-war anti-communist thriller Pickup on South Street starring, again, my Richard; China Gate; 40 Guns; Shock Corridor; Naked Kiss; and Merrill’s Marauders, Jeff Chandler’s final film before his tragic premature death.
Fuller directed and/or wrote the scripts for those movies. In 1967 he wrote the script but did not direct a remake of his own 1953 Pickup on South Street called A Cape Town Affair starring James Brolin in the Widmark role of Skip McCoy – “So you’re a Red, who cares? Your money’s as good as anybody else’s “[Richard’s Skip in the 1953 version – a TRUE capitalist!]
China Gate in 1957 had a mere budget of $150,000 and Naked Kiss in 1964 cost just $200,000, respectively $1.4 and 1.6 million in today’s money. Some film historians and critics cite The Steel Helmet and Pickup on South Street as minor B movie classics-
Indeed in recent years, critical appraisals of Pickup on South Street have further warmed considerably. The movie has a 90% rating on Rotten Tomatoes; Roger Ebert [another Work Horse idol] regards Pickup as one of Fuller’s “noir classics; and WH himself gives the movie a high 83% rating; and you shade slightly below that with % 82.2, making it in fact your No 1. No a bad day for Widmark fans like me. You give Steel Helmet a high rating too – 78%