YTMN Presents a Remake Rematch Thread

Hank · Post by **Hank** » Wed Mar 27, 2013 11:25 pm

YouTookMyName wrote: Wow. Thanks.

I try to leave "holes" in my comments for others to jump in. I guess they aren't well-marked.

Well, with the current rematch, I haven't seen any of the films

so it makes it considerably easy to just sit back and read. I've seen both in the "Let Me" Rematch that is coming up though.

(Did I start page 27 as you suspected one would?)

Hank · Post by **Hank** » Wed Mar 27, 2013 11:26 pm

Hank wrote:
(Did I start page 27 as you suspected one would?)

Yep, you did.

Hank · Post by **Hank** » Wed Mar 27, 2013 11:28 pm

Hank wrote: Yep, you did.

Who do you think you are?

You aren't supposed to talk to yourself. That's a thing someone else does...

Hank · Post by **Hank** » Wed Mar 27, 2013 11:30 pm

Hank wrote: Who do you think you are?

You aren't supposed to talk to yourself. That's a thing someone else does...

You know, the one has an AV that pauses on a "Hank drawing". Perhaps it is something that you do. Only you are actually 3 posters instead of 2.

Hank · Post by **Hank** » Wed Mar 27, 2013 11:33 pm

Hank wrote: You know, the one has an AV that pauses on a "Hank drawing". Perhaps it is something that you do. Only you are actually 3 posters instead of 2.

Nah. That would be crazy.

YouTookMyName · Post by **YouTookMyName** » Thu Mar 28, 2013 12:57 am

YouTookMyName · Post by **YouTookMyName** » Thu Mar 28, 2013 2:07 am

A Comparison of Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978),
Body Snatchers (1993) & The Invasion (2007)
At the Helm

1956: The original screen adaptation of Jack Finney's book was directed by Don Siegel, who said, "Most of my pictures, I’m sorry to say, are about nothing. Because I’m a whore. I work for money. It’s the American way." One of Siegel's finest is The Shootist. Siegel had a number of very well-known projects, including Dirty Harry, Coogan's Bluff, Two Mules for Sister Sara, The Killers, and Madigan. Siegel was born in 1912. He got involved in the film industry in 1941 as second unit director on Sergeant York. His career lasted through 1982. He lived until 1991. Siegel acted in a dozen films, one of which was the 1978 remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. In that film he plays a taxi driver. Over his career Don Siegel was also producer of 10 films.

1978: Philip Kaufman Director (Awards) has more writer credits (18) than he has as director (13). He was the screenwriter for The Outlaw Josey Wales, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Henry and June, among others, sometimes writing the story, other times writing the screenplay. Kaufman's directorial credits include The Right Stuff (which he wrote) Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, and Henry & June. If you look at the awards link you can see his 14 wins and 13 nominations for various awards.

1993: Abel Ferrara, director of Body Snatchers, has won Awards in several areas of the production industry. Body Snatchers was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival. Ferrara directed some films you've likely heard of: Bad Lieutenant, King of New York, The Funeral, as well as some you may never have heard of, such as 9 Lives of a Wet Pussy, and The Driller Killer among his 33 directorial credits. Abel Ferrara's list of credits also includes 12 writing credits, and 7 producer credits, plus some composition credits and two each editorial and DP credits.

2007: Oliver Hirschbiegel is credited as director, and James McTeigue is listed at IMDb as an uncredited additional director. Hirschbiegel's directorial projects include 18 films, a few of which are known outside European film circles. He directed the 2004 release, Downfall, and was nominated for an Oscar for that film. Hirschbiegel has 5 acting credits, four writer credits, and even a credit as composer.

Australian James McTeigue was the director of 2012's off-base film The Raven. Before he helped out with The Invasion he directed V for Vendetta, which was his first feature. The bulk of his credits are for second unit or assistant director jobs. He was, for example, the First Assistant Director on The Matrix. And the Second Unit Director on Speed Racer, and Dark City.

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YouTookMyName · Post by **YouTookMyName** » Thu Mar 28, 2013 10:01 am

A Comparison of Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978),
Body Snatchers (1993) & The Invasion (2007)
Behind the Lens

1956: Ellsworth Fredericks was the lighting photographer on the Don Siegel adaptation. His first credit listed at IMDb is for a 1931 title, Girls About Town, where he was assistant camera operator. Fredericks was 27 years old at the time. He lived to be 89, and over the course of his cinema career he was the cinematographer on 72 titles, with an additional 32 credits in the camera and electrical department. The transition to lighting photographer came between 1952 and 1957. After Trooper Hook, released in 1957, Fredericks has only Director of Photography credits for film and television. He was nominated for best cinematography at the Oscars in 1959 for Sayonara. His last credited project behind the camera was for Eye of the Cat in 1969. His career had him crossing genres and going back and forth between theatrical and television films, as well as features and shorts.

1978: Michael Chapman Director of Photography. You might have noticed his name on the credits of Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, The Lost Boys. I like to see these people in the context of their careers, as you may have noticed. And it's interesting how many people associated with the 1978 movie are associated with other films of note. But this happens frequently, I see, now that I've been paying more attention to this aspect of the films compared in these Rematches. Chapman has also dabbled in acting and direction, according to his IMDb page. I have heard of Clan of the Cave Bear, but I never saw it. Following Raging Bull, Chapman began to be attached to more high profile projects. He was the DP on Michael Jackson's Bad music video, which was the first time I became aware of his name. MTV always pointed out that the guy who had "lensed" Raging Bull was the photographer on that short, which lent it more panache that if we didn't know, I reckon. Having such a distinguished photographer and director (Martin Scorsese) take on that project raised the general perception of music videos into "art form," rather than TV short. His most recent IMDb credit is for Bridge to Terabithia, released in 2007.

1993: Bojan Bazelli has only worked in movies as a director of photography. His first job, right out of film school, according to IMDb, was as DP on Abel Ferrara's feature film China Girl, released in 1987. His most prominent films so far are probably The Ring (2002), Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005), and Hairspray (2007). At this time his latest credit is for The Lone Ranger, to be released in 2013.

2007: Rainer Klausmann served as DP for the latest adaptation of the Jack Finney body snatchers story. Winner of seven awards for cinematography, he has 60 DP credits listed at IMDb. His first credit is as camera assistant on the 1981 German feature Das Boot ist voll (The Boat is Full). Perhaps his first international notice came with his stint as DP on The Invasion. His most current photography jobs were for films about royal women: Mary, Queen of Scots and Diana, both for 2013 release.

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YouTookMyName · Post by **YouTookMyName** » Fri Mar 29, 2013 1:26 am

A Comparison of Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978),
Body Snatchers (1993) & The Invasion (2007)
Lines You Might Remember

1956:
Wilma Lentz: There's no emotion. None. Just the pretense of it. The words, the gesture, the tone of voice, everything else is the same, but not the feeling.
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

Dr. Miles J. Bennell: This is the oddest thing I've ever heard of. Let's hope we don't catch it. I'd hate to wake up some morning and find out that you weren't you.

Becky: [laughs] I'm not the high school kid you use to romance, so how can you tell?

Dr. Miles J. Bennell: You really want to know?

Becky: Mmm-hmm.

Dr. Miles J. Bennell: [after kissing her] Mmmm, you're Becky Driscoll, all right!
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

Becky: Is this an example of your bedside manner, doctor?

Dr. Miles J. Bennell: No, ma'am. That comes later.
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

Dr. Dan 'Danny' Kauffman: Love, desire, ambition, faith - without them, life's so simple, believe me.

Dr. Miles J. Bennell: I don't want any part of it.

Dr. Dan 'Danny' Kauffman: You're forgetting something, Miles.

Dr. Miles J. Bennell: What's that?

Dr. Dan 'Danny' Kauffman: You have no choice.
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

Stanley Driscoll: Is the baby asleep yet, Sally?

Nurse Sally Withers: No, but she will be soon. And there'll be no more tears.

Stanley Driscoll: [referring to the alien seed pod he is carrying] Shall I put this in her room?

Nurse Sally Withers: Yes, in her playpen.
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

Dr. Miles J. Bennell: [having returned from finding that large numbers of pods are being grown in greenhouses, to Becky who, exhausted, has fallen asleep in his absence] I've been afraid a lot of times in my life, but I didn't know the real meaning of fear until ... until I had kissed Becky.
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

Dr. Miles J. Bennell: And so I ran. I ran, I ran, I ran! I ran as little Jimmy Grimaldi ran the other day.
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

Ambulance Driver: We had to dig him out from under the most peculiar things I ever saw.

Dr. Hill: What things?

Ambulance Driver: Well, I don't know what they are; I never saw them before. They looked like great big seed pods.

Dr. Hill: Where was the truck coming from?

Ambulance Driver: Santa Mira.
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

1978:
Elizabeth Driscoll: I have seen these flowers all over. They are growing like parasites on other plants. All of a sudden. Where are they coming from?

Nancy Bellicec: Outer space?

Jack Bellicec: What are you talking about? A space flower?

Nancy Bellicec: Well why not a space flower? Why do we always expect metal ships?

Jack Bellicec: I've never expected metal ships.
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

Dr. David Kibner: Elizabeth, could you please tell me, in your opinion, what is going on?

Elizabeth Driscoll: People are being duplicated. And once it happens to you, you're part of this... thing. It almost happened to me!
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

Elizabeth Driscoll: I keep seeing these people, all recognizing each other. Something is passing between them all, some secret. It's a conspiracy, I know it.

Matthew Bennell: There can't be a conspiracy!

Elizabeth Driscoll: Matthew, I'm telling you something is going on here.
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

Matthew Bennell: [dials his phone] I'll get the police.

Telephone Operator: [voice] Police.

Matthew Bennell: Officer, I'd like to report four bodies in my backyard.

Telephone Operator: Wait right there Mr. Bennell.

Matthew Bennell: How do you know my name?

Jack Bellicec: [Jack's eyes widen with fear] Hang up, Matthew.

Matthew Bennell: [into the phone] I didn't tell you my name.

Jack Bellicec: Hang up!

Matthew Bennell: [hangs up the phone] I didn't tell them my name!

Nancy Bellicec: That's because they're all part of it. They're all pods, all of them!
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

[Elizabeth and Matthew are captured by snatchers in the Health Department office. Kibner gives them sedatives, so that they can be snatched while asleep]

Matthew Bennell: Listen, we're not the last humans left. There are people who will fight you. They will find out what you're doing here.

Elizabeth Driscoll: They'll stop you.

Dr. David Kibner: In an hour... you won't want them to. In an hour, you'll be one of us.
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

1993:
General Platt: We've learned... it's the race that's important. Not the individual.

Major Collins: The individual is always important.
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

Carol Malone: Where you gonna go, where you gonna run, where you gonna hide? Nowhere... 'cause there's no one like you left.
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

2007:
Wendy: My husband is not my husband.
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

Yorish: I say that civilization is an illusion, a game of pretend. What is real is the fact that we are still animals, driven by primal instincts. As a psychiatrist, you must know this to be true.

Carol: To be honest, ambassador, when someone starts talking to me about the truth, what I hear is what they're telling me about themselves more than what they're saying about the world.

Dr. Henryk Belicec: Quite right, well done, doctor.

Yorish: Perhaps this is true, perhaps being a Russian in this country is a kind of pathology. So what do you think, can you help me? Can you give me a pill? To make me see the world the way you Americans see the world. Can a pill help me understand Iraq, or Darfur, or even New Orleans?

Dr. Henryk Belicec: Don't be drawn in by his madness, doctor. He is Russian, he needs to argue like he needs to breathe.

Yorish: All I am saying is that civilization crumbles whenever we need it most. In the right situation, we are all capable of the most terrible crimes. To imagine a world where this was not so, where every crisis did not result in new atrocities, where every newspaper is not full of war and violence. Well, this is to imagine a world where human beings cease to be human.

Carol: While I'll give you that we still retain some basic animal instincts, you have to admit we're not the same animal we were a few thousand years ago.

Yorish: True.

Carol: Read Piaget, Kohlberg or Maslow, Graves, Wilber, and you'll see that we're still evolving. Our consciousness is changing. Five hundred years ago, postmodern feminists didn't exist yet one sits right beside you today. And while that fact may not undo all of the terrible things that have been done in this world, at least it gives me reason to believe that one day, things may be different.

Yorish: Thank you, doctor.

Carol: You're welcome, ambassador.

Dr. Henryk Belicec: Excellent.
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

Tucker: [to his son, Oliver, while Oliver is visiting his house] I made some hot chocolate, Oliver. Would you like some hot chocolate?
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

Carol: I thought you fell asleep.

Oliver: I did fall asleep. I did. Last night, and this morning. Does that mean something bad?

Carol: That means you're immune, baby. It means you're immune.
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

Dr. Galeano: Integration of alien DNA could look like anything.

Carol: Or nothing at all.
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

Tucker: Don't fight, Carol. There's no need for it. All you have to do is nothing. That's all we're asking. It doesn't hurt. Watch. It's just like catching a cold.
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

Tucker: I don't understand your resistance, Carol. You get people pills to make their lives better. How is that so different from what we're doing?
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

Man: You can fool them.

Carol: What?

Man: Don't show emotion, then they can't tell who's who.
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

Carol: I'm so afraid I'm gonna fall asleep, I'm gonna lose him, I'm gonna lose you. I'm gonna lose everything that matters.

Ben: No. You can easily go for a week without sleep then we'll find a pharmacy, do whatever it takes to make sure you stay awake. I just want you to know, there is nothing I wouldn't do for you. Nothing.
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

Ben: [to Carol, about Oliver] There's no room in our world for someone who is immune.
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

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YouTookMyName · Post by **YouTookMyName** » Fri Mar 29, 2013 12:04 pm

Hank wrote:I'd love to own that Hitchcock set at some point. I'll need to wait until it's about 75% off though.

It's getting there. Down to $142.99.

YouTookMyName · Post by **YouTookMyName** » Fri Mar 29, 2013 12:08 pm

Hank wrote: Well, with the current rematch, I haven't seen any of the films so it makes it considerably easy to just sit back and read. I've seen both in the "Let Me" Rematch that is coming up though.

Ah! Then here's your chance to join in the convo. I've scheduled The Big Clock and Let Me In Rematches to run concurrently from April 1, 2013 to June 15, 2013.

Hank · Post by **Hank** » Fri Mar 29, 2013 4:58 pm

YouTookMyName wrote: It's getting there. Down to $142.99.

I showed it to my wife, and she said... "Do you think you could just borrow them from Gort? Maybe pay a small fee... it'd be like Gort-flix or something."

YouTookMyName · Post by **YouTookMyName** » Fri Mar 29, 2013 10:34 pm

Hank wrote: I showed it to my wife, and she said... "Do you think you could just borrow them from Gort? Maybe pay a small fee... it'd be like Gort-flix or something."

LOL. That's a good one! She's a sharp cookie, eh?

YouTookMyName · Post by **YouTookMyName** » Fri Mar 29, 2013 10:35 pm

This has been a terribly difficult review to write. Can't seem to come up with much to say (imagine that!) so I'll just leave it at this.

A Comparison of Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978),
Body Snatchers (1993) & The Invasion (2007)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) dir. name

IMDb link RT-link (40 reviews at 98%, 17, 567 viewer votes at 81% positive)

Year: 1956 -- Director: Don Siegel -- Cast: Kevin McCarthy, Dana Wynter, Carolyn Jones, Whit Bissell, Richard Deacon. -- Length: 80 min. B&W/Mono --
$417,000 (estimated budget). $??? (gross income, USA).

Your spouse, or your uncle or aunt or a close friend with whom you share living quarters is suddenly "not herself" or "isn't acting the way he normally does," and it is worrisome. Predictability of our sigoths (an abbreviation I coined in the 1980s because it takes too long to say "significant others") is one aspect of daily life that we count on. But they haven't really become someone else, they're just...different. Jack Finney parlayed that fact of life into the terror of being invaded by aliens in his 1954 serialized novel, The Body Snatchers. The first film made from that story capitalized on the fear of invasion which was prevalent in the US at that time, and the producers changed the title by adding a couple of words: Invasion of the Body Snatchers. "They're already here!"

When a sigoth changes we sometimes don't feel the same way about him or her. We rely on both our own feelings for that person, and that person's continued staying just the same (or changing only a little bit) in order to remain in the relationship. But Finney and those who helped Don Siegel turn the story into the first film made from it counted on one thing: depending on what particular thing changes just a little bit, it can either be tolerable, or unnerving! For the transformed individuals in Santa Mira to obviously no longer have any emotions falls squarely into that unnerving category for the first few normals we meet in the movie.

As I put in one of the essays in this Multimatch, I've read that Siegel and company claim to have had no intention to inject political symbolism in their film. Perhaps whatever is there remains from the general plot points created by Finney for his book. Anyway, it's difficult to watch the film and not see parallels to certain political events that ended shortly before he wrote the story.

Here are some aspects of the film that I like, and some that I don't care for:

Like: The special effects with the pods (except for the obvious soapsuds) are done quite well for 1956.

Like: The relationship between Miles and Becky seems a bit rushed, but we have to remember that they knew one another long ago, so it isn't as if they have to start from scratch. Also, for the time it is unusual for Miles to be divorced. Later on, especially on TV, many characters would be widowed in order to open up romance possibilities, but it would be a very long time before divorced characters were very great in number. At least in films and TV shows.

Like: The story moves along quickly, although sometimes without enough explanation. I suppose it parallels the experience of the characters in the story if we also don't always understand what's going on. See an objection below, related to pacing.

Don't Like: The way the ending is put together seems incoherent. I understand that the film originally ended with Miles Bennell running from car to car shouting his famous line "They're here!" The studio said it was too much of a downer ending and ordered reshoots...but I'm talking about before that. Something seems to be left out with the final transformation in the movie, something that would have made it a little more in line with all that came before. Perhaps to retain a certain duration there were shots excised from the sequence in the mine. I've never read anything about this.

Don't Like: The story is written so that it gets off to a quick start, and then spends too much time on less interesting points. Of course, editing styles were different in 1956.

The film was quite long in the tooth (it was 52 or 53 years old) when I first saw it on TCM. Certain scenes stuck in my head: the transfer of pods from farm trucks into car trunks for transportation to the homes of far-flung friends and family; the scene in the mine where Miles realizes that he's lost Becky. The scene in the Bellicec's den with the partially transformed body lying on the pool table. As I watched the film later from DVD, I saw how well put together it is, but how the low budget affected the production. Even 22 years later in 1978 the budget allocated to this genre of films was low.

The original is not the standard of measurement for the four films. It is no better than the Philip Kaufman remake, but it may well be its equal. Despite all that, the film is black and white with monophonic sound, which limits the perception of quality that modern audiences would have of the movie. There are fewer goofy things in the Siegel film than there are in the Kaufman. The pointing, shrieking pod people in the 1978 film are just silly. At least Siegel did not make that kind of change from the novel to the first film adaptation. Nor did he cling to Finney's ending from the novel, which is not only lame, but truly unbelievable.

Clearly, the fan-choice of "best of the four" would be Kaufman's film from 1978. I don't really love any of these films. Still, I enjoyed watching the four of them and trying to think up things to write about. And I like the 1956 film more than it would seem from this review.

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YouTookMyName · Post by **YouTookMyName** » Fri Mar 29, 2013 10:46 pm

Round Two is over half-way finished! Yay!

YouTookMyName · Post by **YouTookMyName** » Sat Mar 30, 2013 5:11 am

This is the initial post for The Rematch between The Big Clock (1948) and No Way Out (1987)

This Rematch is Complete as of 9 June 2013.

Selected by Quite Gone Genie

Essays for the Rematch of The Big Clock (1948) and No Way Out (1987).

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YouTookMyName · Post by **YouTookMyName** » Sat Mar 30, 2013 5:11 am

This is the initial post for The Rematch between Let the Right One In (2009) & Let Me In (2010)

This Rematch is Complete as of 11 June 2013.

Selected by Ace

Essays for the Rematch of the Let the Right One In (2009) & Let Me In (2010) films.

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YouTookMyName · Post by **YouTookMyName** » Sat Mar 30, 2013 4:57 pm

Okay. Now the gap where I get the supplies in and read novels and grab stills and write and write.

Oh, the next thing up for each Rematch will be the Find-it post, in case any of you want to follow along. Expect that next week sometime.

My No Way Out DVD is here, but I'm still waiting on the others. And I need to order the novels that undergird The Big Clock.

I hope you enjoy these two concurrent Rematches.

YouTookMyName · Post by **YouTookMyName** » Mon Apr 01, 2013 1:11 am

A Comparison of The Big Clock (1948) and No Way Out (1987)
Point Me to the Oasis, Master!

Hours of searching didn't turn up the usual amount of information. But here's what I discovered before I gave up:

The Kenneth Fearing novel The Big Clock is available new, but you can find any number of used copies if you google 'fearing big clock used' after which you can add your favorite online bookstore if you want to narrow the search.

Barnes & Noble has paperback and hard cover. -- Amazon has hard cover, paperback and audio versions.

Video Discs

The movies are available in DVD format only.

1948 DVD: Amazon. -- DeepDiscount. -- CD Universe
1948 Blu-ray: this film has not yet been released on Blu-ray.

1987 DVD: DeepDiscount (as part of the Kevin Costner triple feature DVD set). -- Amazon. -- CD Universe.
1987 Blu-ray: this film has not yet been released on Blu-ray.

A third movie was made in between these two, Police Python 357 (1976), but it's available only as a Region 2 PAL format DVD. I was afraid my computer drive might not be region-free (rather NTSC-free) enough to spend 30 dollars on it. For that reason I won't be including it in this Rematch. But if you are sure you can play it, you can order it from Amazon. Or maybe you can KG it, and write up a comparison for us!

Soundtracks

Only one track from the 1987 film can be found as an mp3. There are not any available recordings of the 1948 film score.

1987 mp3: Amazon has the No Way Out title theme by Maurice Jarre, performed by Mark Ayers. -- iTunes includes the track in an album of Jarre tunes; performed by Mark Ayers.

1987 title track: on YouTube.

1987 LP album:Original LP available from Amazon marketplace. Here is a listing of the tracks.

Other Sources

Netflix -- 1948 DVD. -- 1987 DVD, and at the time of this post, Watch Instantly.

iTunes -- 1987. (The 1948 film is not available via iTunes.)

Amazon Instant Watch -- 1987. (The 1948 film is not available on Instant Watch.)

YouTube has some clips. Perhaps not what you'd expect.

Do You Like Posters?
This time there were rather sparse results. I found only one site that had many posters for the 1948 film, and couldn't get past the WWE event, and all the pop songs with that title, to find posters of the 1978 film. -- from MoviePosterDB.com The Big Clock. Perhaps you will be more successful in your search.

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Quite-Gone Genie · Post by **Quite-Gone Genie** » Mon Apr 01, 2013 1:28 am

I'd never even heard of Police Python 357 but I may have to hunt it down, especially since I'm a bit of an Yves Montand fan.

dreiser · Post by **dreiser** » Mon Apr 01, 2013 1:42 am

I really like No Way Out for the iconic limo scene and the fabulous ending. Also, Sean Young hadn't been outed yet as a loon.

YouTookMyName · Post by **YouTookMyName** » Tue Apr 02, 2013 3:10 am

A Comparison of Let the Right One In (2009) & Let Me In (2010)
If It Takes Forever...That Will Be Too Long

The John Ajvide Lindqvist novel Let the Right One In is available new, but you can find any number of used copies if you google 'let the right one in novel used', after which you can add your favorite online bookstore if you want to narrow the search. One good source for used editions is AbeBooks.com.

Both stores linked below have nook or Kindle editions respectively. You can also find the English translation under the title Let Me In following the release of the English language remake.
Barnes & Noble. -- B&N Hardcover -- Amazon.

The translation has exactly the same feel to it as you read, that the original 2009 Swedish film has. There is something eerie and compelling about the prose. I can only imagine that it is a very good translation from Lindqvist's original Swedish Låt den rätte komma in.

Video Discs

The movies are available in DVD format. Both are available in Blu-ray format.

2009 DVD: Amazon. -- DeepDiscount. -- Target. -- Barnes&Noble.
2009 Blu-ray: DeepDiscount. -- Amazon. -- Target. -- Barnes&Noble.

2010 DVD: WalMart. -- Amazon. -- FamilyVideo.com. -- CDUniverse. -- eBay.
2010 Blu-ray: iNetVideo used Blu-ray. -- CDUniverse. -- WalMart.

Soundtracks

Both soundtracks can be found as mp3s or on a CD. The 2009 soundtrack is (for the US) an import CD.

2009 CD: Amazon. -- CD Universe.
2009 mp3: Amazon. -- iTunes.

2010 CD: Amazon. -- CDUniverse
2010 mp3: Amazon. -- iTunes.

Other Sources

Netflix -- 2009 DVD, Blu-ray, and streaming. -- 2010 DVD and Blu-ray.

iTunes -- 2009. -- 2010.

Amazon Instant Watch -- 2009 English dubbed. -- 2009 English subtitled. -- 2010.

VuDu -- 2009 -- 2010

YouTube has some clips. The links are here:

Do You Like Posters?
from MoviePosterDB.com LTROI. -- from MoviePosterDB.com LMI. -- from AllPosters.com LTROI. -- from AllPosters.com LMI.
Obviously, all poster sales sites are not created equal.

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YouTookMyName · Post by **YouTookMyName** » Tue Apr 02, 2013 3:18 am

For Invasion I formatted the Find-It posts, which saves me some time, especially since I only have to build four graphics. But each of those above still took about 5 hours to research, grab links, grab pix, create graphics, and assemble.

And it felt like I was flying through each of them.

I think the poster graphic looks really good for LMI. I think it's the French poster that does it for me.

Quite-Gone Genie · Post by **Quite-Gone Genie** » Tue Apr 02, 2013 3:22 am

The French one is indeed the best poster, maybe because it doesn't have the generic horror feel.

YouTookMyName · Post by **YouTookMyName** » Tue Apr 02, 2013 3:34 am

Quite-Gone Genie wrote:The French one is indeed the best poster, maybe because it doesn't have the generic horror feel.

Only that little trickle of blood. Yep. I think you pegged it. Even the snowy white snow-angel poster for Let Me In has much more blood splattered in the corners.

You know, I'm looking forward to watching these four films. Then again, I always am at the start of a Rematch, but by the end I'm a bit jaded about them.

So few films stand up well to three or four viewings.

YouTookMyName · Post by **YouTookMyName** » Fri Apr 05, 2013 1:36 pm

Since starting up Round Two this is the first time I didn't have the novel before I had the video discs. I'm waiting on the two novels that Genie suggested for The Big Clock. Email advises me that they've been mailed.

Meanwhile, I've completed the autograbs for all four movies in these two Rematches! The VLC autograbber always misses some moments that I'd like to have. I'll need to go back and specifically get those stills.

Some essays are underway, but all the films are dim enough in memory that I can't begin writing reviews until I see each of them again. And the tech posts are sitting there and mocking me. All still blank. All needing easily-gotten links to IMDb bio pages. Easy to come by but dull to do.

For the 1.2 people who are curious about the Remake Rematch process, here's your information!

YouTookMyName · Post by **YouTookMyName** » Mon Apr 08, 2013 10:31 pm

Drat!

I ordered The Dark Page and The Big Clock from the same used bookstore.

But, they shipped them under separate cover.

One arrived today, but it's Patricia Wentworth's Vanishing Point; a Miss Silver Mystery. ???

Drattt! So the question is, did it ship in place of The Big Clock, or The Dark Page? And I won't know until the other one arrives.

God, I hope it's not also mis-shipped.

DRRRATTT!

Quite-Gone Genie · Post by **Quite-Gone Genie** » Tue Apr 09, 2013 1:00 am

Nothing much ever seemed to happen in the sleepy village of Hazel Green apart from the occasional tea-party, spiced with local gossip. Until Maggie Bell went out one evening for a breath of fresh air and never came back. Could Maggie's disappearance be linked to security leaks at the nearby Air Ministry? Or is a sinister scheme being hatched closer to home? Miss Silver is called in to solve the mystery just as a second person goes missing...

VANISHING POINT

YouTookMyName · Post by **YouTookMyName** » Tue Apr 09, 2013 3:20 am

Quite-Gone Genie wrote:Nothing much ever seemed to happen in the sleepy village of Hazel Green apart from the occasional tea-party, spiced with local gossip. Until Maggie Bell went out one evening for a breath of fresh air and never came back. Could Maggie's disappearance be linked to security leaks at the nearby Air Ministry? Or is a sinister scheme being hatched closer to home? Miss Silver is called in to solve the mystery just as a second person goes missing...

VANISHING POINT

Yep/ That's the one.

And as it turns out, the book was erroneously shipped in place of The Dark Page, so that might mean I'll still receive The Big Clock in a couple days. Unless they were asleep when they packed that one, too. All it took was checking the shipping advice emails. The package # was in the email for each book.

I already emailed the book store and asked how we can get this resolved.

Thanks for the synopsis, Genie.

YouTookMyName · Post by **YouTookMyName** » Tue Apr 09, 2013 8:18 pm

Today The Big Clock arrived. Whew! Anybody else reading that or Let the Right One In along with me? For the vampire novel it will be my second read-through. I've never read The Big Clock.

I will now work on making that last sentence untrue.

YouTookMyName · Post by **YouTookMyName** » Fri Apr 12, 2013 8:52 pm

Finished The Big Clock this morning.

Learned that a metaphor in the novel became a prop in the 1948 film.

Now I've started re-reading Let the Right One In.

Pretty soon I'll get to start doing linksies, graphicses and writing texts.

Gort · Post by **Gort** » Sat Apr 13, 2013 6:00 pm

I sure hope you've been spending all of this morning working on gathering links and reading Let the Right One In.

YouTookMyName · Post by **YouTookMyName** » Sat Apr 13, 2013 6:01 pm

Thank you for your concern.

That's what I've been doing.

Gort · Post by **Gort** » Sat Apr 13, 2013 6:01 pm

Shouldn't you watch a film today?

YouTookMyName · Post by **YouTookMyName** » Sat Apr 13, 2013 6:01 pm

Not until I finish the books. Thanks for meddling.

Quite-Gone Genie · Post by **Quite-Gone Genie** » Sat Apr 13, 2013 6:03 pm

I should probably watch Let Me In. I've seen the other three films currently on the RR docket.

YouTookMyName · Post by **YouTookMyName** » Sat Apr 13, 2013 6:25 pm

Quite-Gone Genie wrote:I should probably watch Let Me In. I've seen the other three films currently on the RR docket.

You should. Get right on that. It's not a bad film at all. Has its deepest meaning if you watch the Swedish original right before or after it.

.........

BTW, you suggested The Dark Page, so I thought I'd read it for the RR on The Big Clock...but I just got my replacement shipment (gratis, I might add) from the company that wrongfully shipped Vanishing Point.

It's another copy of Vanishing Point. Which points to some problem in their internal inventory control system. I think their Phoenix office shipped exactly what they thought I requested. So I'll let them know, but I doubt I'll ever actually receive a copy of The Dark Page from these people.

Not unless someone walks to the Phoenix warehouse and carefully picks it off the shelf, verifies that it says "The. Dark. Page." on the cover, and puts it in an envelope to me. Only, what if on the inside it begins with the blurb, "At eight o'clock in the evening when it was quite dark, she finished her ironing and and said to her mother, 'I'm just going out for a breath of air. I won't be long'. And no one ever saw her again."

By the way, the double "and" is not my error.

If the company tries to send me another replacement, I'm liable to have a trilogy of a single title!

YouTookMyName · Post by **YouTookMyName** » Sat Apr 13, 2013 9:23 pm

A Comparison of The Big Clock (1948) and No Way Out (1987)
A Few Lines from the Novel and the Films

From the Novel:

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I first met Pauline Delos at one of those substantial parties Earl Janoth liked to give every two or three months, attended by members of the staff, his personal friends, private moguls, and public nobodies, all in haphazard rotation. It was at his home in the East Sixties. Although it was not exactly public, well over a hundred people came and went in the course of two or three hours.

Of Pauline Delos, I knew only the name. But although there could not have been anyone in the organization who hadn't heard a great deal about the lady, there were few who had actually seen her, and fewer still who had seen her on any occasion when Janoth was also present. She was tall, ice-blonde, and splendid. The eye saw nothing but innocence, but to the instincts she was undiluted sex, the brain said there was a perfect hell.
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
The awfulness of Monday morning is the world's great common denominator. To the millionaire and the coolie it is the same, because there can be nothing worse.
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It came to me again that a child drinking milk has the same vacant, contented expression of the well-fed cow who originally gave it. There is a real spiritual kinship there.
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In short, the big clock was running as usual, and it was time to go home. Sometimes the hands of the clock actually raced and at other times they hardly moved at all. But that made no difference to the big clock. The hands could move backward, and the time it told would be right just the same. It would still be running as usual, because all other watches would have to be set by the big one, which is even more powerful than the calendar, and to which one automatically adjusts his entire life.
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
...I prepared myself for the day by turning to the index and reading the gist of the news. If there was something there, I had it by the time the hundreds and thousands of us were intently journeying across the floor of the station's great ant heap, each of us knowing, in spite of the intricate patterns we wove, just where to go, just what to do.

And five minutes later, two blocks away I arrived at the Janoth Building, looming like an eternal stone deity among a forest of its fellows. It seemed to prefer human sacrifices, of the flesh and of the spirit, over any other token of devotion. Daily, we freely made them.

I turned into the echoing lobby, making mine.
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
...half turning I saw the first speaker depart, and then I saw the other woman. It was Pauline Delos. The face, the voice, and the figure registered all at once.

We looked at each other across half the width of the room, and before I had quite placed her I had smiled and nodded. So did she, and in much the same manner.

I picked up my drink and went to her table. Why not?

I said of course she didn't remember me, and she said of course she did.
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But it would be a very rousing thing to spend an evening with this blonde mystery that certainly ought to be solved. And if I didn't solve it now, I never would. Nobody ever would. It would be something lost forever.
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1948--The Big Clock

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The following extended quote was found at ldsfilm.com. It illustrates the style of dialogue in the film, how it overlaps and swirls throughout. I have left the blogger's scene descriptions intact, but corrected spelling errors. The original blogger writes,
"The following dialogue begins a few minutes into the second scene, as George Stroud exits the building's elevator onto the floor occupied by the offices for Crimeways magazine, where he is the managing editor:"

GRACE/WOMAN AT DESK (Frances Morris): Hold it. Mr. Stroud, Salt Lake's on the line, and your wife's trying to reach you.

[The woman, later identified as "Grace," is apparently the receptionist for the Crimeways magazine. Grace is played by actress Frances Morris, who appeared in over 150 films, including "Again... Pioneers" (1950).]

GEORGE STROUD (Ray Milland): Put Salt Lake on.

GRACE/WOMAN AT DESK: But they're on.

STROUD: All right, fine.

[Stroud has walked through the front lobby of the Crimeways magazine offices, and continues walking into his own office, followed by a man who works there.]

MAN IN OFFICE: The conference. It's almost 11:00.

STROUD: Plenty of time.

MAN IN OFFICE: But Mr. Janoth--

STROUD: [picking up phone] Hello. Yeah?... Yeah, this is Stroud... Oh, hello, Max. How are you makin' out?

MAN IN OFFICE: George--

[The Man, apparently a secretary or assistant to Stroud, is trying to urge Stroud to go to a scheduled meeting with all of the managing editors for Janoth's publishing company.]

STROUD: [still on the phone, ignoring the Man] Ya have? Oh, wonderful! Where was he? What did I tell ya? Once a seashell man, always a seashell man.

[Stroud here is talking on the phone with one of his reporters, currently in Salt Lake City, Utah. The reporter has located a fugitive that the Crimeways magazine has been running stories on. The fugitive is now in Utah. The fugitive has apparently gone to Utah to obtain rare seashells.]

MAN IN OFFICE: They're waiting.

STROUD: Will he talk?... Well, pretend you're a fellow collector or something. Ask him if he was gonna spend the dough on oysters or blondes. Ha ha!... Yeah... Look, you've got an hour and 53 minutes to get the story... Attaboy, Max.

[Stroud hangs up the phone, and grabs his assistant (Man in office) by the shoulders, exclaiming to him excitedly.]

STROUD: We've just located Fleming.

MAN IN OFFICE: They're waiting for you.

[Stroud looks out his office door, addressing the receptionist]

STROUD: Grace, call the composing room. Tell 'em to hold everything. We're gonna replate.

GRACE/WOMAN AT DESK: Yes, Mr. S--

STROUD: And get my wife.

GRACE/WOMAN AT DESK: Yes, Mr. Stroud.

MAN IN OFFICE: George, you're the only one not there. Mr. Janoth will be furious. Time is money.

[Earl Janoth, the owner of the Janoth media company, is Stroud's boss, and the principle antagonist of the film. Janoth is played by Charles Laughton. Laughton received the Best Actor in a Leading Role Academy Award for "The Private Life of Henry VIII" (1933), and was later nominated the same award for "Mutiny on the Bounty" (1935) and "Witness for the Prosecution" (1957).]

STROUD: Fleming is in Salt Lake. Milner's gonna wire us a story. Here's the background and proofs of the story you already had set up.

[Phone buzzes. Stroud picks it up.]

STROUD: [To Man in office] Go on, Roy. Go on.

MR. STROUD: [on phone] Hello?... Oh, hello, darling... Yeah... Huh?... No bath and no oatmeal? Let me talk to him.

[Cut to inside of the Stroud family's New York City apartment. A maid is helping Stroud's son pack. Mr. Stroud's wife Georgette Stroud is one the phone with him. Georgette is played by actress Maureen O'Sullivan, who appeared in more than 70 films before passing away in Scottsdale, Arizona in 1998.]

MRS. STROUD (Maureen O'Sullivan): All right, but he doesn't believe he's going. He thinks it's just like the last trip and the time before... and all the other trips we didn't go on... I'll let you talk to him. George, Daddy wants to talk to you.

GEORGE STROUD, JR.: Hello, Daddy. But I don't believe we're going.

MR. STROUD: But this is the McCoy, an expedition. Your mother's gonna do the cooking. What? Yeah, I know it's tough but you'll do the hunting. That's why you should eat your oatmeal, build up your strength. Ya better believe me. Look under my pillow.

[Little George Stroud, Jr., a boy about 6 years old, retrieves toy gun from under his father's pillow.]

GEORGE STROUD, JR.: Oh, boy! Look, Mommy! An atomic disintegrator!

[Sound of gun clicking and popping.]

MRS. STROUD: I think you've sold him, Wonderman. I'll let you know at lunch.

MR. STROUD: A little child psychology, dear. All right, dear, 12:30 at the Van Barth, huh? Bye, darling.

[The film the cuts to a board room inside the Janoth building, where a meeting is being held about increasing circulation. An executive announces the purpose of the meeting, after which Earl Janoth (played by Charles Laughton) enters. He is a formidable presence. The meeting proceeds for a few minutes, until Mr. Stroud enters, late. An assistant editor is answering Mr. Janoth's question about how he intends to increase circulation for Crimeways, when Mr. Janoth and later Stroud interrupts:]

ASSISTANT EDITOR: Well, uh, I have one suggestion that might be of value: a new feature to be called "Solution of the Week." The most important part... or the most unique solution, highlighting the fact that crime does not pay. It's educational...

EARL JANOTH (Charles Laughton): Primigenous, stale, a hash-up of last week's news -- exactly what we don't want.

[Stroud is sitting next to the assistant editor, who is currently standing explaining his idea. Stroud quietly speaks to the assistant editor:]

STROUD: Fleming.

[Mr. Janoth overhears Stroud's aside.]

JANOTH: What was that, uh, Stroud?

STROUD: I was reminding him of Fleming.

JANOTH: The absconder?

STROUD: Yes. His story will sell a hundred thousand extra copies next week.

JANOTH: If you mean his personal story, I'd agree... but haven't you overlooked the necessity of finding him first?

STROUD: We have.

JANOTH: Have what?

STROUD: Found him. We have him in Salt Lake. We're replating one and two. It's too late to touch the cover now, but we'll do what we did with the Eisemann story. Run a three inch paper band around every copy with "Fleming Found" in block letters.

JANOTH: Make them red. Steve, advertise this in the morning papers. Use the 25 key cities. Young man, you've stumbled on something -- perhaps not exactly what I've been looking for, but nonetheless valuable. You've struck 12:00.

STROUD: Thank you.

[End of scene.]
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
Pauline York: You know, Earl has a passion for obscurity. He won't even have his biography in 'Who's Who'.

George Stroud: Sure. He doesn't want to let his left hand know whose pocket the right one is picking.
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Louise Patterson: Isn’t it a pity? The wrong people always have money.
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George Stroud: I thought he was only interested in clocks?
Pauline York: Maybe I have a clock.
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Janoth: It would be most unpleasant for me if he were to insist he saw me entering her apartment. I shall have to call him a liar.
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Don Klausmeyer: I'm Don Klausmeyer, from Artways magazine.

Louise Patterson: Yes. [giggles] Oh, yes. Didn't you review my show in '41?

Don Klausmeyer: I think I did.

Louise Patterson: Oh, come in, Mr. Klausmann.

Don Klausmeyer: KlausMEYER.

Louise Patterson: [laughs gleefully] I've been planning to kill you for years.
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IMDb quotes page for The Big Clock.

1987--No Way Out

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Susan Atwell: [to man gawking at her cleavage] If you want to look down my dress, you better grow a few inches.
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Susan Atwell: [Susan walks through a metal detector at a ball] Thank God its not a bullshit detector or none of us would get in.
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Susan Atwell: I'll call you later tonight.

Tom Farrell: I'll wait by the phone.
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Tom Farrell: [one of the Contras tries to follow Farrell into the bathroom] I would rather do this myself. You can listen if you want to.
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[Tom and Susan are making out in the limo when Tom notices the driver is watching them]

Tom Farrell: What's your name?

Bill the Limo driver: Bill.

Tom Farrell: Hi Bill. Could you close the slide, please.

Bill the Limo driver: Uh, sure.

Susan Atwell: [as the window goes up] Sorry, Bill.
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Susan Atwell: It's David Brice, Secretary of Defense. Satisfied?

Tom Farrell: You know I work for Brice?

Susan Atwell: I guess that makes two of us.
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Susan Atwell: [as Brice is approaching the house] I-I'm begging you. Please just go now out the back door. I-I'm sorry. It's...

Tom Farrell: When I go, it'll be through the front door.
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Scott Pritchard: [about Brice] He's the most extraordinary person I've ever met in my life. If it came to it, I'd lay down my life for him.

Tom Farrell: Is that a job requirement?
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CIA Director Marshall: What's all this top secret business I've been hearing about over at the Pentagon?

Kevin O'Brien: Here's what we do have. CID is running a phone check. They're looking for all calls placed to a Susan Atwell.

CIA Director Marshall: Who's she?

Kevin O'Brien: Well, she's in the morgue at Fort Meade. She was murdered last night.

CIA Director Marshall: We know anything about it?

Kevin O'Brien: Get ready for this. We think she's either David Brice's or Scott Pritchard's mistress. Well she was seen with both of them.

[Marshall laughs ironically]

Kevin O'Brien: It didn't seem a high priority matter, so my people have been a little lax in following it up.

CIA Director Marshall: Well, spilt milk. [Wryly laughing] And you can forget about Pritchard. He's homosexual.

Kevin O'Brien: I'll be damned.

CIA Director Marshall: Ah, so will he, if you believe the Old Testament.
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Scott Pritchard: Tom is the one who saw you at Susan's. He's known about you all along, isn't that right? We do know what that means. If Commander Farrell is the man who was with Miss Atwell, then Commander Farrell is the man who killed Miss Atwell. And we know that the man who killed Miss Atwell is Yuri. Therefore, Commander Farrell IS Yuri, quod erat demonstrandum.
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[Contra has chased Tom right up to the Secretary's Office when they are stopped by the MPs]

Tom Farrell: [to nearest MP] I am your superior officer and I am giving you a direct order to arrest this man!

Contra #2: I have orders from Pritchard!

Tom Farrell: DO IT!

Contra #2: I have my orders from Pritchard!

Tom Farrell: [to Contra] SHUT UP! [Tom kicks Contra 2 in the groin. Contra is dragged away by the MPs] And if he resists, SHOOT HIM!

MP: Yes, sir!
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IMDb quotes page for No Way Out.

Go back using these buttons.

dreiser · Post by **dreiser** » Sun Apr 14, 2013 1:19 am

YouTookMyName wrote:... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
Susan Atwell: [to man gawking at her cleavage] If you want to look down my dress, you better grow a few inches.
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
Susan Atwell: [Susan walks through a metal detector at a ball] Thank God its not a bullshit detector or none of us would get in.
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

She's a feisty character.

YouTookMyName · Post by **YouTookMyName** » Tue Apr 16, 2013 2:06 am

dreiser wrote:
She's a feisty character.

Of course.

But I'm having trouble persuading myself to watch No Way Out a second time. For one thing it's so long. Now, I really enjoyed re-watching The Big Clock (my fourth viewing ever) and taking notes the other night. So maybe NWO won't be so bad.

Which film version of Fearing's clock story do you guys like best?

dreiser · Post by **dreiser** » Tue Apr 16, 2013 2:14 am

YouTookMyName · Post by **YouTookMyName** » Wed Apr 17, 2013 3:16 am

Just finished watching and taking notes on No Way Out.

Honestly, I think this is a much much stronger film if you know the trick ending before you watch. It makes so much more sense if you know.

Gort · Post by **Gort** » Wed Apr 17, 2013 3:17 am

I agree.

YouTookMyName · Post by **YouTookMyName** » Wed Apr 17, 2013 3:17 am

I knew you would.

Gort · Post by **Gort** » Wed Apr 17, 2013 3:18 am

There is suspense if you know. There is very little suspense if you don't. Second viewing was better.

YouTookMyName · Post by **YouTookMyName** » Wed Apr 17, 2013 3:18 am

Gort wrote:There is suspense if you know. There is very little suspense if you don't. Second viewing was better.

Damnit! Leave something for me to write in the essays.

Quite-Gone Genie · Post by **Quite-Gone Genie** » Wed Apr 17, 2013 3:23 am

I've only seen it once, but I knew the twist because I had read about the film long before seeing it. I can't tell if it's better knowing, but it did make the film enjoyable.

YouTookMyName · Post by **YouTookMyName** » Thu Apr 18, 2013 12:50 am

Whoa. There are a lot of scenes in the Lindqvist novel Let the Right One In that are really hard to take.

YouTookMyName · Post by **YouTookMyName** » Fri Apr 19, 2013 1:59 am

The more I think about No Way Out the more it's growing on me. But I have to look beyond Costner, who almost derailed it for me the first time. Knowing who his character is makes his acting make more sense, as I mentioned a couple nights ago, and that's raising the film in my estimation.

Re-reading Let the Right One In is allowing me to find little details that I must have ignored the first time through. Also, I had seen the Alfredson film a couple weeks before I read it the first time...and this time I'm reading the book, then going through the films, so it isn't so much controlled by what I saw on the screen. I'm more free to imagine it as it comes to me. It's been years since I saw the film all the way through. Looking forward to breaking out the Blu of it and Let Me In, though.

YouTookMyName · Post by **YouTookMyName** » Wed Apr 24, 2013 11:24 pm

A Comparison of The Big Clock (1948) and No Way Out (1987)
The Big Clock (1948) dir. John Farrow

IMDb link RT-link 100% Tomatometer. 78% audience (1,277 votes)

Year: 1948 -- Director: John Farrow -- Cast: Ray Milland, Charles Laughton, Maureen O'Sullivan, George Macready, Elsa Lanchester, Rita Johnson -- Length: 95 min. B&W/Mono

Whether The Big Clock is actually film noir is a point of debate. But not a point that matters. Certainly it has some aspects of the externally imposed genre, and it lacks others. Compilations of films noirs almost always include it because it is a dark story, about the basest motives of human beings. That puts it squarely into noir territory in many critics' minds. But others say that it lacks the chiaroscuro lighting that may have helped give the genre its French name. Frankly, I believe in those who claim that the word noir was applied because of topical content rather than because of photographic conventions.

We turn to the Wiki for Film noir:

The term film noir, French for "black film," first applied to Hollywood films by French critic Nino Frank in 1946, was unrecognized by most American film industry professionals of that era. Cinema historians and critics defined the category retrospectively. Before the notion was widely adopted in the 1970s, many of the classic films noirs were referred to as melodramas. Whether film noir qualifies as a distinct genre is a matter of ongoing debate among scholars.
(reference tags redacted for quote)

Thus, when John Farrow made The Big Clock it is unlikely that he would have thought of himself as a director of a film noir.

The script he directed was written by John Latimer, based on Kenneth Fearing's crime novel. The screenplay removes some aspects of Fearing's novel that might not have played well with post-WWII audiences: Pauline Delos's bisexuality, George Stroud's history of repeat adultery, the suggestion of homosexual involvement between Janoth and Hagen. The last was sublimated in the script, but never suggested aloud, as it was in the book (Delos makes this accusation just before Janoth clubs her). Other aspects of the novel were changed, some elegantly, and others clumsily. Some believe that the resultant plot is better, start to finish.

Here is how I react to various aspects of this film:

Like: This is supposed to be a look at the underbelly of human behavior. The screenplay retains the implication that George Stroud commits adultery with Pauline York (Pauline Delos in the novel). Whether he does or not is left to the viewer's imagination. It all looks potentially platonic on screen, but it may not actually be. Movies don't show us everything that happens. Just because George wakes up on the couch doesn't mean that something else didn't happen there or elsewhere. This ambivalent presentation seems to me to be courageous for 1948. The film makes no effort to demonstrate clearly that it was platonic, but leaves you an out if you wish to believe so.

Like: The general structure of the hunt for Jefferson Randolph, the name Pauline tells Janoth for George Stroud (George Chester is the alternate name used in the book) is retained from the novel. This includes the chalkboard where even improbable clues are carefully noted. Ray Milland plays the part of a man trying to forestall his inevitable outing, since it would be a frame-up, but one that would probably stick. He does a good job of communicating to the audience that he is playing both ends against the middle, and he knows that it's only a matter of time before he is "caught." So he's also trying to get the goods on the real murderer.

Like: The streamlining of the plot as it gets ported over from the novel is a goal undertaken equitably, and in general makes the story flow more smoothly. At least Latimer resisted the urge to try mimicking Fearing's multiple-narrator device in the film! And he straightened out the bizarre ending of Fearing's novel.

Like: Janoth's assistant Bill never utters so much as a grunt. But you can tell he doesn't approve of everything he does for Janoth. Still, he follows through with all of it, a twistedly loyal servant right up to the end. This is dark stuff. And it's added to the film, because Bill is merely mentioned in the novel a couple times. This film makes him a character filled to the brim with the kind of experimentalism that we expect from what is now called film noir. I've seen a 1952 feature film in which there is no spoken dialogue. That experiment sort of succeeds, sort of fails. But in this case, Bill's experimental mute presence is everything from comic to threatening.

Like: The painter, Louise Patterson, has an expanded role in the film (just as Bill does). Her presence is welcome, and although off-kilter, it is clear that she is protecting Stroud despite her emotional ambivalence. Her choice is to protect a collector of her works, although I'm never sure that she believes Stroud did not kill York. Her eye-witness rendering of him is one of the can't-help-but-smile moments in the film.

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Don't Like: Although many consider it to be one of the best props ever devised for a film, the materialization of the big clock in the lobby of Janoth Publications is a very odd thing to do. The metaphor of the big clock doesn't work all that well in the novel, so I guess the physical clock works "better," but it still seems silly. It is clearly a way to retain the popular novel's title in the film made from it. The set representing the interior of the clock is good, though, and provides the film's most chiaroscuro moment.

Don't Like: The dragnet tightens, gets closer, becomes more unavoidable and then, suddenly...the search is called off. That's the novel version. This film doesn't do much better, although it improves on the novel slightly.

Don't Like: Comic relief is fine, but sometimes it is sprung on the viewer at an ill-fitting moment. This doesn't ruin the movie, but sort of puts a bump in the proceedings now and again.

Don't Like: In the novel the Stroud family is George, Georgette, and Georgia. Why they thought George Jr. would be better than Georgia for the film, I have no idea. The daughter presented by the novel is at least as interesting as the space ranger who invades the film script. It is a change that I find unnecessary.

Don't Like: The film arranges for George to be fired and re-hired...something that never happens in the novel. And I don't think it's as dramatically strong as what Fearing put in the written story. Sure, the postponed honeymoon makes for some potentially comic moments, but they aren't really all that funny. And it seems stronger for Stroud to get blindsided with the charge to find the murderer when he walks into work on Monday morning, rather than quitting and then being called back from vacation. But that might just be me, in which case the difference probably doesn't matter. This is the major case in which Latimer complicates, rather than streamlines the plot of the novel when transferring it to the screen.

I think it's unlikely that any film that is 67 years old will come across with high tension in 2013. But there is more suspense in the 1948 film than there is in its successor. Although there is a Louise Patterson analog in the later film, her part doesn't build quite the tension you get when Patterson strides into Stroud's office, and has a moment of moral quandary.

The Pauline York character is blander than her 1987 adjunct, Susan Atwell, but Janoth is a subtler murderer than Brice. There might be further comparisons in the review of the 1987 film!

This film was presented in a film history overview course that I took in the early 1970s. I found it to be stylish, and great fun to watch. If memory serves well, the next time I saw it was for this thread. Some moments were as fresh as if I had never seen it. Others, gems, were waiting in my memory to spring forth as beloved when they re-appeared on my retina. Genie's suggestion gave me a good excuse to see a fondly-remembered film again.

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