Back in October of 2011, Turner Classic Movies Channel aired
one in their series of “A Night at the Movies.”
This episode was all about “The Thriller.” Well, it’s not my favorite candidate for
movie night, but I thought I would stretch my movie knowledge a bit, watch the
episode, and try to learn a thing or two.
Boy, did I ever! Not only did it expound on the differences between a
thriller, a mystery, and a horror picture (which in and of themselves is simple
to distinguish, but more difficult to explain), but served up juicy clips of a
nice list of ‘top of the line’ thrillers.
With note pad and pen in hand, I took notes on my one-hour
lesson from experts in the field (one interviewee was Stephen King, whose
genius mind I find extremely fascinating!) and made a list of the films
included in the clips. Since October, I
have been catching these films through my subscription service and finished the
list today. There were a few I omitted
and did not watch by choice (or are simply unavailable). Watching for the first time or re-watching
some of the films from the episode (and I did as best as my subscription would
allow to watch in chronological order) permitted me to see the thriller with
new eyes.
Now I did not find every film to be a new favorite; however,
there were a few surprises.
“Shadow of a Doubt” (1944) Another first view. I found the unraveling of the story to be
quiet good; however, was disappointed in the falling action.
“Woman in the Window” (1944) Again, a first view. This film was the ‘surprise hit’ for me in
the list. Probably on the first ‘twist
endings’ that I know of and done quite well.
“Strangers on a Train” (1951) I had already seen this film,
and yes, a definite must for any thriller-watcher! Outstanding performances given
by the entire cast.
“Three Days of the Condor” (1975) – Yes, believe it or not,
there is a Robert Redford film I have not seen! This is from the great era of ‘70’s spy
thrillers based on previously written material, Six Days of the Condor by James Grady.
Other films that I already had seen that are favorites
include “Wait Until Dark” (1966), “Blow
Up” (1966), and “Marathon Man” (1976).
If you would like to know other films discussed in TCM’s “A
Night at the Movies: The Thriller,” drop me a line, and I will send you the
list.
I’ve been watching a lot of Fritz Lang films lately, both sound and silent. Fury is an interesting film historically and visually. It may be a bit melodramatic, but Lang films always tend to fluctuate between the ordinary and the extraordinary. The current release includes a nice commentary track by Peter Bogdanovich and excerpts from interviews that he did with Lang. I don’t listen to many commentaries these days since most are pretty much wasted efforts that do little to enhance my knowledge of the film or its makers. I guess you can call them “backslappers”. Here, Bogdanovich does a respectable job of blending analysis, historical perspective, and personal reminiscences about Lang. The commentary offers some interesting background to how this politically challenging film was made at Hollywood’s least political studio. Since the commentary isn’t always scene specific, you can pretty much run it without the picture and pretend that you are listening to NPR.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Mike! The dvd I rented did not have the bonus features. I like to watch these - I feel like I get a bit more insight on the making of the film, the ideas behind changes that may have been made, views on the direction, incidents that happen on set , anecdotes, etc... so that would have been nice to see. "Fury" was fairly early in the list, so it has been since November since I have seen it. The biggest impression made on me was watching Sylvia Sidney. Most 'contemporary' film viewers recognizer her as 'Juno' from "Beetlejuice" or the grandma in "Mars Attacks," but I saw her not only in this picture ("Fury"), but "Sabotage," which was also on the list. Her presence on the screen just takes over - fantastic! I also enjoy Bogdanovich any time he does retrospectives - I will definitely re-watch & look for this newer release.
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