A Movie Scene Quiz

Thanks, bree. I love Barbara Cook's voice. I'm so glad you got to hear her in person.

Thanks for the link, Bree. I'm reading it for the second time, and I'm trying to grasp the purpose of Prof. Cavell's book, Pursuits of Happiness: The Hollywood Comedy of Remarriage. Both The Awful Truth (which was also a silent film in 1925, My Favorite Wife) and The Philadelphia Story were based on plays, so --I think he should attribute the "knotty ethical puzzles" and "epistemological conundrums" to the playwrights and let us moviegoers interpret the witty banter and romantic vexation as we see fit. Messrs. Kaufman and Cavell are confusing me.

( I'm glad you enjoyed Barbara Cook's concert)

I'll sneak one in here to keep the game going. I know Bree won't mind.

Oldie

He hitches a ride (unaware that the driver is the local D.A.) He asks the driver to stop when he sees a MAN WANTED sign. He enters the cafe and the proprieter offers him a free hamburger, room and board, modest salary, and fine bed with box spring and mattress, in return for a job as handyman.

I not only don't mind, I'm delighted I can stop feeling delinquent!

The Postman Always Rings Twice (first version)?

But, now you have to stay. (lol) The Postman Always Rings Twice with Turner and Garfield is correct.

Oh, if only I didn't know so many old movies!

I actually have some work to do at the moment, but it shouldn't take more than an hour or so. I'll try to return later this afternoon with a new scene.

Aah, Bree. Take as much time as you wish. The only scenes I seem to remember are the "oldies" and I'm running out.

The next scene is open if anyone should care to ask one.

OK, I just thought of one.

Oldie (natch)
Two men who are in love with the same woman are traveling together along a dangerous road. When their car runs out of gas, they hide out in a watchtower by the side of the road, but it turns out to be a not very safe hiding place.

Wow. I just saw this scene in "The Quiet American" which was done last year! Was it a remake?

Yes, it was a remake! When I said it was an oldie, I was thinking of the 1958 version, which had Michael Redgrave in the Michael Caine role, and Audie Murphy in the Brendan Frasier role. I thought of it because I just saw bits of the 1958 version on AMC over the weekend.

I was saving the fact that there was a later remake to use as a hint if anyone needed one, but you obviously didn't. Take it away, fealola!

Wow! I'd really like to see the original! I'll look for it!

It was really good, despite the fact that -- in one of those weird bits of 1950's casting -- the Vietnamese woman both men are in love with was played by an Italian actress. And it's in black and white, but who cares?

I just remembered (not that it matters), that the movie was shown on PBS, not on AMC, and the reason why I missed the beginning of it was that the PBS guide said they were going to be showing The Cotton Club that night. I wonder what happened to The Cotton Club.

Well, if it was on PBS, it probably won't be repeated much. But I can put it in my TIVO and see what happens!

I don't have a new one right now, so someone go!

Bree: Were they going to show the Richard Gere movie of Cotton Club or was it to be a special about the Club?

Raggedy, I think it was supposed to be the Richard Gere movie. I can't think of anything that's happened in the news recently that would make it inappropriate to show the movie at this time, so I wondered if they ran into copyright problems.

I wonder. I know at one time Public Broadcasting had a documentary about the Cotton Club, but I missed it.

Wow. It doesn't seem like two weeks since there's been any action here.

Here's an Oldie- before 1960

The youngest brother stays home to take care of Ma and the farm when his three brothers join the Confederate Army. His brothers rob a Confederate train when Lee surrenders.

Hmm... My first thought was Shenandoah, but that's an inbetweener (and I can't see any of those boys robbing a train, anyway). So, to get a hint, I'll guess:

Birth of a Nation
The Great Train Robbery
The General

Good Morning.

Not:
Birth of a Nation
The Great Train Robbery
The General

Hint:
The townsfolk were shocked when the boys came home. They thought they were killed in the war. One of the brothers was planning on asking the girl he left behind to marry him, but much to his dismay he finds out his younger brother married her three months earlier.