I'm amazed at what Hitchcock was able to do in a 30 minute network format; what most Directors are unable to do today in two hours with a huge budget and overpaid actors. The tight script; intelligent script that today is but a memory of the past burns very deeply watching an episode like this. I could not have spent 30 minutes of my life better than watching this episode and only wish I was born and alive when this episode aired for the first time. What is most telling is the way the plot evolves without any obvious formula. I wish I could understand what happened in America; and why today people will watch CSI and other trivial crime dramas that are devoid of any content of substance. Watching this episode reminded me of the decline of America and the decline of culture.
Reviews
7 Reviews
Red River
(1948)
Clift was railroaded by Hollywood studio system
23 December 2010
To hear a commenter note that had Monty would have if he retained his looks and not self=destruct is laughable if it wasn't so tragic. Fact Montgomery Clift who was one of the most naturally talented actors to ever grace the screen. He's never been recognized to by all the actors who he influenced including Marlon Brando, Paul Newman, Al Pacino who came after him. The fact is he was persecuted for being Homosexual. It was well known and at the time, it was unforgivable. Elizabeth Taylor was a witness to this persecution on the sets of Raintree Country and other films. She has said that they treated him like trash, on and off set, and that he was pushed towards alcoholism, and drugs to deal with the persecution. It is disheartening to hear people today talk about this great talent, and not acknowledge the abuse that was inflicted on him. And he still persevered from this time '48 to about '55 when it really started to get to him, and he literally broke down. His performance in A Place in The Sun, is one of the greatest cinematic performances in Hollywood History. He deserved the Oscar he was robbed by all accounts.There is no way William Holdens performance in Stalag 17 who won was better. No credible movie critic disagrees with the fact that his performance was far superior. This performance stands against Brando's A Street Name Desired, and it was just as influential if not even more. Pacino took his acting method in the '70s for many great performances but they still cant compare to Monty's work from the late '40s to early '50s.
Shadows
(1958)
Segregation
20 September 2010
I would like to comment on how this movie exposes the lie that only the South had institutional racism, and also from my experience segregation was nationwide, it was not just in the South, this is historical revisionism. One of my first memories is as a child, I'm three years old, my grandmother who was a nurse, I was born in LA. She is holding my hand, and we are going to a Department store in Downtown LA, it has to be 1968..it was the first time I had seen a black person..I was entering the store with my grandmother, and in the corner of my left eye I saw this black figure,(apparently they had a separate entrance) it shocked me I had never seen a black person, or even knew that they existed...my grand mother rushed me into the store, and didn't tell me anything, she tried to act like I didn't see what I saw..in Los Angeles there was segregation of public restaurants, department stores etc..this is the truth..the Watts riots in LA county in 1965..erupted because black people were tired of being refused service in diners,..I didn't learn about this until years later..(they lied to us in school as a child) stores, etc...
From Here to Eternity
(1953)
Montgomery Clift
15 August 2009
What can I say as a gay man, about why Montgomery Clift is the most underrated actors? Well, yeah, every one has copied him, and has been influenced by him, but he is given no credit. Hello! He was gay! Everyone knows that, it is this thing that even today Hollywood wont acknowledge. Still, actors today will not accept this. They cant admit that one of the greatest actors, who influenced them was gay! Thats why as an openly gay male, it is so important to be true to yourself and force people whether they want to or not accept it. When have you heard an actor on Oscar night, mention Monty? When did you ever hear the Academy Awards ever acknowledge the debt all actors have to him. Marlon Brando, James Dean..etc..etc..ad infinitum. Ask any professor of acting, who was the most naturally talented , and Monty is always mentioned. It doesn't matter. He was gay, so he has to be denied as a person. I've never heard Marlon, Paul Newman, Steve McQeen ever publicly address this, including todays actors. The only actors I have ever heard praise him, and acknowledge his worth were women. Elizabeth Taylor, Joanne Woodward, Natalie Wood, Faye Dunaway, the list goes on, but um their women and again its Hollywood, and their opinion doesn't matter either cause they are women! I get it, Hoolywood is misogynistic, and Homophobic, nothing has changed. You have to be a straight white man, in order for you to have any credibility. Nothing really has changed, since the 1950's. This is called progress?
A Place in the Sun
(1951)
Personal tragedy
22 March 2009
I find it amazing how people either ignore the fact that Montgomery Clift was gay, he wasn't bisexual people, he was gay!or just pretend to not to comment on how he was crucified by Hollywood. The fact that he never won an Academy Award especially for this performance, I mean William Holden won for Stalig 17? Everyone knew he was a Homosexual, including the Academy which voted. This is one of the great injustices of Academy history. Elizabeth Taylor has commented repeatedly on how he was tormented in Hollywood, this was normal for someone who was known to be Homosexual, in Hollywood, in schools, everywhere it was and still is pernicious , but not as much as it was before. How can anyone watch a movie with Monty in it w/out, commenting on his lifelong addiction to achohol, and drugs, that eventually killed him? Still Monty is a hero to me, cause he had more courage, and integrity than most gay actors who today live in the closet, and are fearful of the repercussions to their career if they were exposed. Monty was one of the greatest actors , and was an A-list star at this time, and they knew he was gay.Look at what he accomplished. Look at Hollywood today, and recognize his achievement, it is actually quite sad, how closeted it still is...
The Osterman Weekend
(1983)
Above most peoples heads..
30 November 2008
I caught this movie, the other night on one of the premium cable channels, I think IFC or Sundance, I had read about the movie previously over the years, but never saw it. WoW! What a movie. There are def not anyone in this country that could make such an intelligent insightful movie about politics, today. The movie is very astute in terms of its analysis of the political structure in this country, and it was definitely too much for the average viewer upon its release in 1983. It is still too much today. But its message is still relevant, of how nothing is at seems, we are all pawns, how are whole government is just a front or cover which masks the true power structure in tnis country. We individually have no power, we are again pawns that are moved to one postion from the other, completely unaware of what is really going on. We are pawns that are played against each other, white against black, brown against black, straight against gay, men against women, etc..in the background they watch and laugh at us, we are such simpletons..eg. we still believe(that Universal Suffrage) that our elections in this country mean something...etc I think that is a very hard message for people to accept, the tragic thing is that with the recent collapse of our economy, people will actually come to realize this finally...
The Leopard
(1963)
Classical Esthetics seem alien to us now
7 November 2008
Visconti never made a movie to appeal to common tastes, styles, it is ludicrous to compare this movie to any other. It is a work of ART, and it is meant to be seen in that fashion. It is comparing apples and oranges to compare this movie to say a movie by Scorcese, Scorcese adapted and ultimately made his movie with the tastes and sensibility of common, modern tastes and sensibilities. Visconti would have never lowered himself or his standards. But, that is the difference, Visconti was above it, on another level of existence, removed from the need/want of publicity, fame, etc, he knew who he was and where he came from.This is hard especially for Americans to understand, because they have no sense of self, their is no continuity of human experience in this country. Watching this movie, you see how he saw his experience as a continium of existence going back thousands of years with his ancestors, it is this background which is so hard for an American to understand, and comprehend. It is really the tragedy of being an American. This movie transcends place and time, and that is what great ART is, in the classical Western tradition. It fullfills this criterion as set forth by the Ancient Greeks/Romans, and it is gone forever. There will never be another Visconti...
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