1999 Cradle Will Rock - Faithful to facts? A good movie?

[blunted by community]

wellesfan recomended the mcbride book on ford. i have a couple of ford books and they are not any good. the kathrine hepburn bio some good insight on ford. they had a bit of a relationship. i found that odd but then i remembered she was also attracted to spencer tracy. she had a taste for ogres

one of the funnier things she said was that ford had a miserable marriage. when he wasn't filming he would be home in his upstairs office, locked in with a case of whiskey. he would be continually drunk, and would piss out the window.

[Glenn Anders]

Dear Blunted: I understand your ennui. I have slowed down a lot recently, but occasionally I come up with a good review. I think mine on THE BIG BRASS RING is one of them.

Both Ford and Tracy with their traditional Irish Catholic backgrounds must have seen in Hepburn the appearance of dry purity which made adultery almost acceptable.

Great anecdote, Blunted

Glenn

[blunted by community]

glenn, i don't like big brass ring, besides, just like a newspaper, you can't really write what you think about big brass ring unless you loved it, because your guy wants to sell tapes.

in a 2 newspaper town, newspaper critics, i call them cheer leaders. even if the movie sucks they gotta keep that spirit up and do the cheer because movie theater chains buy advertising. will they buy it from you, or buy it from the other guy. you can only trust a critic that works for a paper that does not depend on advertising dollars from local movie chains. most of what i wrote the head of the department would call me and say, "i can't put this through. can't we like this film a bit more? my god, they bought a quarter page advertising!"

in a small town, buying a quarter page advertising suddenly makes the movie god's movie! if they buy a full page, the movie is as good as lawrence of arabia. i had no qualms lying, my problem was having to sit through bad movie after bad movie. i would have been more than happy to lie if i didn't have to watch the damn fim.

The line, "the feel good movie of the year" makes me want to puke. the paper liked that line.

ANOTHER FUNNY FORD STORY:
ford got word that ward bond died. they closed the set for a few days and flew to the funeral. they arrived back on the set to film. ford looks at andy devine and says, "well, ward bond is dead. i guess now that makes you the biggest shit i know." andy just stood there with a surprised look on his face while all around him laughed.

my friend just emailed me this from a book he's reading. it was tooo good not to share.

(all this constructive posting is very boring. i wish glenn would blow a fuse and attack me)

[Glenn Anders]

Dear Blunted: That is a good anecdote about Ford, Bond, and Devine. It is said that in every Ford production, someone was selected by him to be "it," often a newcomer. Nothing this person could do would be called right, and humiliation was the order of the day. It suggests a certain will to power among great directors, and illuminates stories told sometimes about Welles, Hitchcock, Wyler, Preminger -- the list goes on.

Now, now, Blunted, I never blow a fuse; I occasionally disagree with your views. THEN, I . . .i . . .i jus dezagree poleetly n bumble bumble -- puppy biscuit . . . .

glengary glengadfry

[Sir Bygber Brown]

lol

[Oscar Christie]

Cradle to be read in Chicago
www.suntimes.com/output/weiss/cst-ftr-cradle18.html

[Glenn Anders]

I saw a production of The Cradle Will Rock some years ago, at the old Victoria Theater, here in San Francisco. The show can be more effective and moving than some critics would suggest.

Glenn

[Oscar Christie]

Blunt wrote

years ago a writer told me to get a dictionary and look up the word poignant. he said i should try to apply that to everything i write.
that changed a lot for me.

poignant:
a. Neat, skillful, and to the point:
b. Astute and pertinent; relevant:

[blunted by community]

my websters had a more relevant abstract of the word. to the point, direct, bitter to the taste or something like that, but it struck a chord in my thick head.

[Johnny Dale]

Is Robbins' Cradle Poingant?

[blunted by community]

i don't think CRADDLE hit any part of the word, but i'm sure there are people somewhere in bolivia that liked it.

[Glenn Anders]

Is there an alternate universe where a dictionary defines poignant as:

a. Neat, skillful, and to the point:
b. Astute and pertinent; relevant:

Anyone guess where?

??????????????????????????????

Come in Zurvan on Aldebaran . . . Come in . . . .

No answer.

The heck with it! I say we add to our growing list of founder funds to pay for a new dictionary to go with our proposed new purchase of one on Film Aesthetics.

Meanwhile we shall have to languish in the delusion that our knowledge comes from the Craddle of Civilization.

Glenn