ABCs at the Movies: The Doubles Round!

[Fran]

Composer:  Alan Silvestri

From IMDb:  Nick, a somewhat chauvinistic advertising exec hotshot, has his life turned haywire when a fluke accident enables him to hear what women think. At first all he wants to do is rid himself of this curse until a wacky psychologist shows him that this could be used to his advantage! His first target is Darcy McGuire, the very woman that got the promotion he wanted. But just as his plan is beginning to work, love gets in the way....

[southendmd]

Composer:  Georges Bizet; new lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II

Plot:  Love, passion, betrayal and tragedy. Carmen Jones is an adaptation of Bizet's legendary opera, Carmen. It tells the story of a young, free spirited woman called Carmen Jones whose great beauty is the object of many men's desires. However, Carmen sets her sights on young army officer Joe, who is engaged to his sweetheart, Cindy Lou. Joe quickly succumbs to Carmen's charms , forsaking his Cindy Lou, thus beginning the tragic love story.

IMDb trivia:  The singing voices of Harry Belafonte and Dorothy Dandridge were dubbed by LeVern Hutcherson and Marilyn Horne respectively, even though Belafonte and Dandridge were both accomplished singers. However, neither had the training nor the range to sing operatic roles. Catherine Hilgenberg, a soloist with the Roger Wagner Chorale (morphed later into the Los Angeles Master Chorale), was originally signed to sing the Carmen role, and a number of the arias were already recorded (with piano, on a separate track), when director Otto Preminger's bullying behavior became too much for her and she quit. Horne ("Jackie") was a 19-year-old music student at nearby USC. She auditioned for the part and was immediately hired - for $300. But it was a terrific break for her, and she grabbed it, and did an outstanding job, re-recording what Hilgenberg had already sung, plus the balance of the music.

[oilgun]

Composer:  Masaru Satô

Plot: Sanjuro, a wandering samurai enters a rural town in nineteenth century Japan. After learning from the innkeeper that the town is divided between two gangsters, he plays one side off against the other. His efforts are complicated by the arrival of the wily Unosuke, the son of one of the gangsters, who owns a revolver. Unosuke has Sanjuro beaten after he reunites an abducted woman with her husband and son, then massacres his father's opponents. During the slaughter, the samurai escapes with the help of the innkeeper; but while recuperating at a nearby temple, he learns of innkeeper's abduction by Unosuke, and returns to the town to confront him.

[memento]

Composers: The Rolling Stones

From IMDB: Martin Scorsese and the Rolling Stones unite in "Shine A Light," a look at The Rolling Stones." Scorcese filmed the Stones over a two-day period at the intimate Beacon Theater in New York City in fall 2006. Cinematographers capture the raw energy of the legendary band.

[memento]

The Siblings Round!



Brother-Sister Relationship
Brother-Brother Relationship
Sister-Sister Relationship

[southendmd]

IMDb comment:  Two brothers dream of their love for the same girl back home, while aboard ship sailing ACROSS TO SINGAPORE.

Based on the famous adventure story ‘All The Brothers Were Valiant' by Ben Ames Williams, this is a rousing silent film which features strong action & good acting. The production values are first-rate, as is to be expected from MGM. Although the plot becomes somewhat ludicrous - the hero kidnaps the heroine off to the Orient where they confront a dastardly mutiny - the film is certainly never dull.

Ramon Novarro stars as the youngest son in a sea-faring family of hardy men. (The Studio kept their Mexican star constantly roaming from one ethnic identity to another; here he plays Anglo-Saxon.) Giving a typically robust performance, Novarro is not lacking in the heroics necessary to beguile his audience. It is unfortunate that Novarro's films, silent & sound, with the exception of BEN-HUR (1925), are all but forgotten today.

Big, blustering Ernest Torrence steals more than a scene or two as Novarro's sea captain brother; gruff & gentle by turns, he is indeed valiant. Joan Crawford, early in her film career, is the object of both brothers' affections. Just when she seems a mite too demure, Joan's fire begins to spark; she also proves to be a surprisingly good pistol shot during the mutiny.

Movie mavens will recognize an unbilled Anna May Wong as a Celestial temptress.

[Fran]

From IMDb:  A regular guy struggles with a repressive home and professional life, as well as making amends for the trouble his free-spirited brother and sister cause about town.

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsvbJ-c26fI[/youtube]
Trailer

[memento]

aka Bear Cub

From IMDB: I have recently seen the movie,Bear Cub, aka Cachorro. It's honest, it's true, and it's a refreshing look into the life of a gay bear, Pedro, who must take care of his sister's son as she goes on vacation with her hippie boyfriend. I like that Cachorro represented gays as normal guys and not the stereotypic Will and Grace type of gay guy we see all the time in Hollywood. I got the unrated version which has some surprisingly explicit sex scenes for a mainstream movie. They were HOT. But the real cream of the crop is within the brilliant child actor who played Bernardo. We have Hailey Joe Osmond, I guess Spain's answer to that is him.

[southendmd]

Plot:  A man is murdered, and several witnesses can place Ruth Collins at the scene of the crime. But Ruth has a twin sister, Terry, who has been diagnosed as a psychotic. When Ruth falls for the psychiatrist who evaluates the two sisters, will Terry strike again?

[Fran]

From IMDb:  1851, Manitoba's Red River Valley. As winter sets in, a young woman on the edge of madness arrives exhausted at the fort, a wilderness station, claiming she murdered her husband. She's placed in a cell; for the next several months, she sews while the local prefect, Henry Mullen, investigates. In flashbacks we see her arranged marriage to the hard-working but angry Simon, who takes her to his half-built homestead and abuses her. She's treated well by his younger brother George, with whom she laughs, but he's too weak to protect her. Is she guilty? At the homestead, Mullen hears a different story, one that exonerates Annie. Can he unearth the truth? Then what?