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Post by topbilled on Mar 24, 2024 20:34:15 GMT
Setting up the strangulation scene:
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Post by topbilled on Mar 24, 2024 20:36:14 GMT
Sorry, we never drink milk while on duty.
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Post by galacticgirrrl on Mar 24, 2024 20:36:35 GMT
Lost my internet there for a minute....
Another fabulous shot - the circular camera spinning of Barbara Stanwyck as she panics.
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Post by Fading Fast on Mar 24, 2024 20:37:50 GMT
"You better come with us, Sir. We'll talk it over."
I love the English police.
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Post by topbilled on Mar 24, 2024 20:39:36 GMT
Warner Brothers chronology
Previous released film: NORA PRENTISS (1947) Next released film: PURSUED (1947)
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Post by galacticgirrrl on Mar 24, 2024 20:39:55 GMT
"You better come with us, Sir. We'll talk it over."
I love the English police. With really strange capes - dare I ask BW what fabric that would be? Surely not a synthetic?
I can't believe this film didn't do well. It was fabulous.
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Post by Fading Fast on Mar 24, 2024 20:41:15 GMT
"You better come with us, Sir. We'll talk it over."
I love the English police. With really strange capes - dare I ask BW what fabric that would be? Surely not a synthetic?
I can't believe this film didn't do well. It was fabulous. BW will know, my guess is oilcloth (cotton that's been "bathed" in oil).
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Post by Fading Fast on Mar 24, 2024 20:42:32 GMT
Good choice, Topbilled. It's not my favorite movie, but it was a lot of fun to watch as a group.
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Post by galacticgirrrl on Mar 24, 2024 20:43:15 GMT
Thanks TB et al for another great Sunday afternoon at the Cinema.
I can't believe I've never seen this one. To my credit there are many films with artist/attic/dormer/locked studios/paintings gone amuck story lines.
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Post by BunnyWhit on Mar 24, 2024 20:43:44 GMT
"You better come with us, Sir. We'll talk it over."
I love the English police. With really strange capes - dare I ask BW what fabric that would be? Surely not a synthetic?
I can't believe this film didn't do well. It was fabulous. DuPont nylon came about in the 40s-50s. It was used to coat tightly woven fabric and made into lightweight rain protection. Oilcloth is a great idea, but it's typically heavier and doesn't move like that.
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Post by BunnyWhit on Mar 24, 2024 20:46:47 GMT
Thanks, Topbilled and gang for a fun time at the movies!
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Post by topbilled on Mar 24, 2024 21:17:12 GMT
Blackmailer’s demise
The scene between Blagdon and Bogie doesn't work as Bogie could easily show the Blagdon knew well before now ("I just discovered the signature books" is a weak comeback). Yes, Bogie goes down for murder, but Blagdon would go down for blackmail. Neither one can pull the trigger without bringing themselves down. The blackmail lever Blagdon had is really done at this point, so this added murder feels forced to me. I sort of interpret it as Bogart's character snapping. He's tired of this guy hanging around his house threatening him constantly for more money. He just wants to be done with it, and the easiest way is killing the guy.
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Post by topbilled on Mar 24, 2024 21:26:32 GMT
I love Bogart's acting here. You can't win for trying it seems. If he had dialed it down the public would have cried dull, boring & tedious. I had watched this film yesterday in anticipation of today's screening, just to re-familiarize myself with certain elements. And I was impressed with Bogart's acting, and with Stanwyck's acting.
I felt Bogart's best scene in the movie was the killing of the blackmailer. We just feel the desperation and his decision to eliminate this threat.
I thought Stanwyck's best moment was when we have that voice-over where her character realizes the first wife was murdered and she's next. The way she comprehends the horror of the situation...not just how she fears for her life, but that she is heartbroken over being married to a mentally ill man and that her marriage to the 'perfect husband' is now basically finished.
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Post by Fading Fast on Mar 24, 2024 21:33:55 GMT
The scene between Blagdon and Bogie doesn't work as Bogie could easily show the Blagdon knew well before now ("I just discovered the signature books" is a weak comeback). Yes, Bogie goes down for murder, but Blagdon would go down for blackmail. Neither one can pull the trigger without bringing themselves down. The blackmail lever Blagdon had is really done at this point, so this added murder feels forced to me. I sort of interpret it as Bogart's character snapping. He's tired of this guy hanging around his house threatening him constantly for more money. He just wants to be done with it, and the easiest way is killing the guy. I understand and respect this view - I just see it differently.
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Post by topbilled on Mar 24, 2024 21:40:06 GMT
I sort of interpret it as Bogart's character snapping. He's tired of this guy hanging around his house threatening him constantly for more money. He just wants to be done with it, and the easiest way is killing the guy. I understand and respect this view - I just see it differently. How would you have written it? Just left that a dangling plot thread...without any resolution for the blackmailer character?
What did you think of the daughter being shipped off to school? I would like to think that Sally will visit Bea and will continue to function as a mother figure to her. From a dramatic standpoint, I was glad the last act was just a showdown between Sally & Geoffrey with the young girl no longer in the house. It would have seemed odd if we had the daughter and the housekeeper there while the most sinister portion of the story was playing out upstairs in the wife's bedroom.
I did like that very brief moment earlier in the film where Geoffrey examines one of his daughter's sketches and realizes Bea has talent...she will probably carry on his work as an artist, though she won't be afflicted with madness.
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