skip to main |
skip to sidebar
The great Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule is featuring another of his famous movie quizzes. Click here to check it out, scroll down to read my responses.
MS ELIZABETH HALSEY'S ROTTEN APPLE, HOT FOR (BAD) TEACHER SUMMER MOVIE QUIZ
1) Name a line from a movie that should've become a catch phrase but didn't
"I'm not saying we wouldn't get our hair mussed. But I do say no more than ten to twenty million killed, tops. Uh, depending on the breaks."
Not exactly a catch phrase, but it's the answer to many of life's more difficult questions.
2) Your second favorite William Wellman film
My favorite is Battleground, one of the best war movies ever made. And while he made great movies such as The Ox-Bow Incident and The Public Enemy, my second favorite William Wellman movie is Wings, the silent Oscar winner starring Clara Bow and a bunch of airplanes.
3) Viggo Mortensen or Javier Bardem?
Like them both, but I think Javier Bardem is a national treasure.
4) Favorite first line from a movie
"Saigon. Shit. I'm still only in Saigon."
5) The most disappointing/superfluous “director’s cut” or otherwise extended edition of a movie you’ve seen?
Everything George Lucas has ever done to Star Wars
6) What is the movie you feel was most enhanced by a variant version?
Possibly Orson Welles' Touch of Evil. But what I really want is a Blu-Ray with all five versions of TV's Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
7) Eve Arden or Una Merkel?
Eve Arden and it's not close. Una Merkel's appeal baffles me.
8) What was the last DVD/Blu-ray/streaming film you saw? The last theatrical screening?
DVD? Season one of television's Lost in Space. Streaming? Amazon Prime's series Bosch. Theatrical? The Imitation Game
9) Second favorite Michael Mann film
Thief (my favorite being The Last of the Mohicans)
10) Name a favorite director’s most egregious misstep
Even though it grossed more money than any movie of the silent era, established once and for all the commercial and artistic viability of the feature film, and influenced everything that came after it, I consider the second half of D.W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation the most blinkered, ill-conceived and pernicious piece of film ever made. And not just through the politically-correct lenses of 21st century glasses, at the time, too, when it was considered so inflammatory, it was banned outright in several U.S. cities. (I've written at length about it here.)
11) Alain Delon or Marcello Mastroianni?
Marcello Mastroianni, for 8½ and La Dolce Vita.
12) Jean-Luc Godard famously stated that “all you need for a movie is a girl and a gun.” Name one other essential element that you’d add to the mix.
Wit.
13) Favorite one-sheet that you own, or just your favorite one-sheet (please provide a link to an image if you can)
Only one sheet I own is of Key Largo, which I bought in a bookstore in Key Largo, Florida, twenty-five years ago.
14) Catherine Spaak or Daniela Giordano?
Honestly, I have no idea who either of these people are.
15) Director who most readily makes you think “Whatever happened to…?”
Pete Wilson, whose student film Das Volkswagen featured a supporting performance by the Mythical Monkey
16) Now that some time has passed… The Interview, yes or no?
Haven't seen it, nor am I likely to see it, for no other reason than that it looks stupid, and not in a fun way.
17) Second favorite Alberto Cavalcanti film
Who?
18) Though both displayed strong documentary influence in their early films, Wim Wenders and Werner Herzog have focused heavily on the documentary form late in their filmmaking careers. If he had lived, what kind of films do you think Rainer Werner Fassbinder, their partner in the German New Wave of the ‘70s, would be making now?
Selfies on his phone? I have no idea. But it would be a rare director indeed who would be making better movies in his seventies than he made in his thirties. It's a young-ish man's (woman's) medium.
19) Name a DVD you’ve replaced with a Blu-ray. Name another that you decided not to replace.
Replaced DVD with a Blu-Ray? Citizen Kane. Didn't replace? About 800 others.
20) Don Rickles or Rodney Dangerfield?
Going to see Rickles in New York in two weeks. That's what, twelve times? I've even been personally insulted by Rickles. Rickles Rickles Rickles.
Although let's be honest, he can't act a lick.
21) Director who you wish would hurry up and make another film
Buster Keaton.
22) Second favorite Michael Bay film
Do people honest to God have a favorite Michael Bay film?
23) Name a movie that, for whatever reason, you think of as your own
I love lots of movies, I identify with many of them, I can quote some of them from beginning to end. But I don't think of any of them as "mine." I've never understood the tendency of some fans to become proprietary about the object of their admiration, throwing sharp elbows to keep newcomers at bay. I am a movie evangelist. Come one, come all!
24) Your favorite movie AI (however loosely you care to define the term)
Hal 9000
25) Your favorite existing DVD commentary track
Robinson Crusoe on Mars where Paul Mantee explains how "the monkey never lied to me." I get the impression everyone else in Hollywood did.
26) The double bill you’d program on the last night of your own revival theater
What, we're saying my revival theater has gone belly up? Before I've even opened one?
My goodbyes mostly resemble the ending of The Horse's Mouth, Alec Guinness's brilliant comedy about a half-mad artist — which is to say, I drift away on the tide while involved in another nutty project. (Lost in Space, anyone?)
But the best goodbyes involve saying hello to a beautiful redhead — the ending of Holiday and The Quiet Man being two of my favorites.
27) Catherine Deneuve or Claudia Cardinale?
I think Catherine Deneuve is a better actress but Claudia Cardinale was in more movies that I actually watch — i.e., The Professionals and Once Upon a Time in the West.
F. Scott Fitzgerald famously wrote that American lives have no second act, but Alec Guinness, being British, had three—first, as a comedic actor, then as a dramatic one, then as Obi Wan Kenobi.
Here are my three favorite Alec Guinness movies. If you skipped to the end of his story, you really need to go back to the beginning.
Kind Hearts and Cornonets
Alec Guinness plays eight murder victims in this black comedy classic about a would-be British aristocrat determined to climb the family tree.
The Lavender Hill Mob
A caper comedy proving once again that (to very loosely paraphrase Fraiser) the only thing better than a perfect crime is a perfect crime with one tiny flaw you can pick at for the rest of the movie.
The Horse's Mouth
My absolute favorite Alec Guinness movie, a comedy about a painter in the single-minded pursuit of his artistic vision.
"But there have to be artists!"
"And lunatics too! But why go and live in an asylum before you're sent for?"
Have at it.
"If I let you change me, will that do it? If I do what you tell me, will you love me? All right. All right then, I'll do it. I don't care about me anymore."
That's Vertigo in a nutshell. Ostensibly, it's a murder mystery, but it's really a stalker movie with the viewer thrust into an uncomfortable complicity with a control freak. You could legitimately complain that Hitchcock's normally-reliable suspense angle doesn't work, but that's beside the point. What you're watching is an abusive relationship from the inside out with a sugar coating of murder on top.
Vertigo isn't North By Northwest; Vertigo is Sleeping With the Enemy.
It's an old Hollywood trick. Bible movies were often about sex, Westerns about racism, noir about the emptiness of the American Dream, but served up in a palatable popcorn genre, the studios were able to skirt both Production Code censorship and audience reluctance to talk about anything serious. In the process, they made some of the best movies of the period.
Here, James Stewart plays an ex-cop, Scottie Ferguson, retired from the force after a bout of vertigo during a rooftop chase left a fellow officer dead. [SPOILERS] An old school chum hires Scottie to follow his wife Madeleine (Kim Novak) who believes herself to be possessed by the spirit of a long-dead woman, Carlotta Valdes, who committed suicide during San Francisco's golden age.
Scottie's acrophobia masks a deeper psychological problem—personally, I think the evidence obliquely suggests his mother killed herself when he was young, but that's just my surmise—and he chases Kim Novak around, not for a second believing she's possessed by a ghost but convinced that if he can keep her from toppling over into insanity, he can avoid falling himself. When she instead falls to her death, largely (he believes) because of his own weakness, it pushes him all the way over the edge.
And then after a year, he gets out of the sanitarium, bumps into a Madeleine look-alike (Kim Novak again) and tries to relive the past, this time fixing it. Instead, in the fashion of a classic Greek tragedy, he ensures the very end he was trying to avoid.
It's not a thriller, it's not a mystery, it's not a noir. Maybe it's just a perverse love story dressed up in Hitchcock clothing. I didn't much care for it the first couple of times I saw it, including at the Uptown in Washington, D.C., after its restoration—I found it slow, the spiritual possession angle preposterous (although I imagine Val Lewton could have made you believe every second of it) and the mystery, well, once Kim Novak reveals the plot mid-way through, there is no mystery. But somewhere along the line, Vertigo put its hooks into me and it's my choice as the best movie of 1958.
"If you'll permit the Siren a bit of life advice, barbed clothing critiques from a straight man are a 100% surefire sign of a control freak to be avoided at all costs."—Self-Styled Siren
PICTURE (Drama)
winner: Vertigo (prod. Alfred Hitchcock)
nominees: The Big Country (prod. Gregory Peck and William Wyler); Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (prod. Lawrence Weingarten); The Defiant Ones (prod. Stanley Kramer); Horror of Dracula (prod. Anthony Hinds); A Night To Remember (prod. William MacQuitty); Separate Tables (prod. Harold Hecht); The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (prod. Charles H. Schneer); Touch of Evil (prod. Albert Zugsmith)
PICTURE (Comedy/Musical)
winner: The Horse's Mouth (prod. John Bryan and Ronald Neame)
nominees: Auntie Mame (prod. Morton DaCosta); Bell Book and Candle (prod. Julian Blaustein); Gigi (prod. Arthur Freed); Indiscreet (prod. Stanley Donen)
PICTURE (Foreign Language)
winner: Mon Oncle (prod. Jacques Tati)
nominees: Ascenseur pour l'échafaud (Elevator to the Gallows) (prod. Jean Thuillier); I soliti ignoti (Big Deal on Madonna Street) (prod. Franco Cristaldi); Jalsaghar (The Music Room) (prod. Satyajit Ray); Kakushi-toride no san-akunin (The Hidden Fortess) (prod. Sanezumi Fujimoto and Akira Kurosawa); Popiól i diament (Ashes and Diamonds) (prod. Zespól Filmowy "Kadr")
ACTOR (Drama)
winner: James Stewart (Vertigo)
nominees: Tony Curtis (The Defiant Ones); Peter Cushing (Horror of Dracula); Charlton Heston (Touch of Evil and The Big Country); Christopher Lee (Horror of Dracula); Paul Newman (The Long, Hot Summer and Cat On A Hot Tin Roof); David Niven (Separate Tables); Sidney Poitier (The Defiant Ones); Vincent Price (The Fly); Frank Sinatra (Some Came Running); Spencer Tracy (The Last Hurrah)
ACTOR (Comedy/Musical)
winner: Alec Guinness (The Horse's Mouth)
nominees: Cary Grant (Indiscreet and Houseboat); Andy Griffith (No Time For Sergeants); Jacques Tati (Mon Oncle)
ACTRESS (Drama)
winner: Susan Hayward (I Want To Live!)
nominees: Ingrid Bergman (The Inn Of The Sixth Happiness); Rita Hayworth (Separate Tables); Shirley MacLaine (Some Came Running); Jeanne Moreau (Ascenseur pour l'échafaud a.k.a. Elevator to the Gallows); Kim Novak (Vertigo); Jean Simmons (The Big Country); Elizabeth Taylor (Cat On A Hot Tin Roof)
ACTRESS (Comedy/Musical)
winner: Rosalind Russell (Auntie Mame)
nominees: Ingrid Bergman (Indiscreet); Doris Day (Teacher's Pet); Kim Novak (Bell Book And Candle)
DIRECTOR (Drama)
winner: Alfred Hitchcock (Vertigo)
nominees: Richard Brooks (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof); Stanley Kramer (The Defiant Ones); Akira Kurosawa (Kakushi-toride no san-akunin a.k.a. The Hidden Fortess); Satyajit Ray (Jalsaghar a.k.a. The Music Room); Andrzej Wajda (Popiól i diament a.k.a. Ashes and Diamonds); Orson Welles (Touch Of Evil); William Wyler (The Big Country)
DIRECTOR (Comedy/Musical)
winner: Jacques Tati (Mon Oncle)
nominees: Vincente Minnelli (Gigi); Mario Monicelli (I soliti ignoti a.k.a. Big Deal On Madonna Street); Ronald Neame (The Horse's Mouth); Richard Quine (Bell Book and Candle)
SUPPORTING ACTOR
winner: Burl Ives (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and The Big Country)
nominees: Joseph Calleia (Touch of Evil); Ernie Kovacs (Bell Book and Candle); Eli Wallach (The Lineup); Orson Welles (Touch Of Evil)
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
winner: Hermione Gingold (Gigi and Bell Book and Candle)
nominees: Marlene Dietrich (Touch of Evil); Barbara Bel Geddes (Vertigo); Wendy Hiller (Separate Tables); Deborah Kerr (Bonjour tristesse); Hope Lange (The Young Lions); Angela Lansbury (The Long, Hot Summer); Tina Louise (God's Little Acre); Lee Remick (The Long, Hot Summer); Gwen Verdon (Damn Yankees!); Kay Walsh (The Horse's Mouth); Cara Williams (The Defiant Ones)
SCREENPLAY
winner: Orson Welles, from the novel Badge Of Evil by Whit Masterson (Touch of Evil)
nominees: Alec Guinness, from the novel by Joyce Cary (The Horse's Mouth); Agenore Incrocci, Furio Scarpelli, Suso Cecchi d’Amico and Mario Monicelli (I soliti ignoti a.k.a. Big Deal On Madonna Street); Ryuzo Kikushima, Hideo Oguni, Shinobu Hashimoto and Akira Kurosawa (Kakushi-toride no san-akunin a.k.a. The Hidden Fortress); Alec Coppel and Samuel A. Taylor, from the novel D'entre les morts by Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac (Vertigo)
SPECIAL AWARDS
Bernard Herrmann (Vertigo) (Score); Robert Burks (Vertigo) (Cinematography); Ray Harryhausen (The 7th Voyage Of Sinbad) (Special Effects)
F. Scott Fitzgerald famously wrote that American lives have no second act, but Alec Guinness, being British, had three—first, as a comedic actor, then as a dramatic one, then as Obi Wan Kenobi.
PICTURE (Drama)
winner: The African Queen (prod. Sam Spiegel)
nominees: Ace In The Hole (prod. Billy Wilder); The Day The Earth Stood Still (prod. Julian Blaustein); Detective Story (prod. William Wyler); A Place In The Sun (prod. George Stevens); The River (prod. Jean Renoir and Kenneth McEldowney); Scrooge (prod. Brian Desmond Hurst); Strangers on a Train (prod. Alfred Hitchcock); A Streetcar Named Desire (prod. Charles K. Feldman); The Thing From Another World (prod. Howard Hawks)
PICTURE (Comedy/Musical)
winner: The Lavender Hill Mob (prod. Michael Balcon)
nominees: Alice In Wonderland (prod. Walt Disney); An American In Paris (prod. Arthur Freed); The Man In The White Suit (prod. Michael Balcon)
PICTURE (Foreign Language)
winner: Journal d'un curé de campagne (Diary Of A Country Priest) (prod. Union Générale Cinématographique)
nominees: Bakushû (Early Summer) (prod. Takeshi Yamamoto)
ACTOR (Drama)
winner: Marlon Brando (A Streetcar Named Desire)
nominees: Humphrey Bogart (The African Queen); Montgomery Clift (A Place In The Sun); Kirk Douglas (Ace In The Hole and Detective Story); Michael Rennie (The Day The Earth Stood Still); Alastair Sim (Scrooge)
ACTOR (Comedy/Musical)
winner: Alec Guinness (The Lavender Hill Mob and The Man In The White Suit)
nominees: Fred Astaire (Royal Wedding); Cary Grant (People Will Talk); Gene Kelly (An American In Paris); Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis (That's My Boy)
ACTRESS (Drama)
winner: Vivien Leigh (A Streetcar Named Desire)
nominees: Anita Björk (Fröken Julie a.k.a. Miss Julie); Katharine Hepburn (The African Queen); Patricia Neal (The Day The Earth Stood Still); Eleanor Parker (Detective Story); Jan Sterling (Ace In The Hole)
ACTRESS (Comedy/Musical)
winner: Joan Greenwood (The Man in the White Suit)
nominees: Jeanne Crain (People Will Talk); Kathryn Grayson (Show Boat); Jane Powell (Royal Wedding)
DIRECTOR (Drama)
winner: Elia Kazan (A Streetcar Named Desire)
nominees: Robert Bresson (Journal d'un curé de campagne a.k.a. Diary Of A Country Priest); Alfred Hitchcock (Strangers on a Train); John Huston (The African Queen); George Stevens (A Place in The Sun); Billy Wilder (Ace In The Hole); Robert Wise (The Day The Earth Stood Still)
DIRECTOR (Comedy/Musical)
winner: Charles Crichton (The Lavender Hill Mob)
nominees: Alexander Mackendrick (The Man In The White Suit); Vincente Minnelli (An American in Paris)
SUPPORTING ACTOR
winner: Robert Walker (Strangers on a Train)
nominees: Porter Hall (Ace In The Hole); Oscar Levant (An American In Paris); Karl Malden (A Streetcar Named Desire); Vincent Price (His Kind of Woman); Peter Ustinov (Quo Vadis)
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
winner: Kim Hunter (A Streetcar Named Desire)
nominees: Lee Grant (Detective Story); Thelma Ritter (The Mating Season); Elizabeth Taylor (A Place In The Sun); Shelley Winters (A Place In The Sun)
SCREENPLAY
winner: James Agee and John Huston, from the novel by C.S. Forester (The African Queen)
nominees: Billy Wilder, Lesser Samuels and Walter Newman (Ace In The Hole); Edmund H. North, from the story "Farewell to the Master" by Harry Bates (The Day The Earth Stood Still); T.E.B. Clarke (The Lavender Hill Mob); Raymond Chandler and Czenzi Ormonde, adaptation by Whitfield Cook, from the novel by Patricia Highsmith (Strangers on a Train); Tennessee Williams, adaptation by Oscar Saul, from the play by Tennessee Williams (A Streetcar Named Desire); Charles Lederer, from the short story "Who Goes There" by John W. Campbell, Jr. (The Thing From Another World)
SPECIAL AWARDS
Russell Harlan (The Thing From Another World) (Cinematography); Phil Brigandi and Clem Portman (The Thing From Another World) (Sound); Bernard Herrmann (The Day The Earth Stood Still) (Score)
Posts
