General Chat

Hi David, I know that Christopher Plummer the canadian actor played Von Trapp, he also was in The Battle of Britain film playing Suzannah Yorks husband. You could well be right about him playing sherlock Holmes, I'm not to knowlable about him as an actor...now if we we're talking about Mr Purefoy I'm your gal!!!!

Yes David.....the sound of Music a timeless classic......though the Von Trapp children must all be in their 50s now!! , such wonderful songs we had the soundtrack on LP when I was a young girl.

Don`t think Julie Andrews ever quite eclipsed that role, she was in Star a few years later, and of course got her baps out in that film with Dudley Moore in the late 70s..... not quite the actions of Maria the Nun...!!!

Yes Pam have seen Yanks many times over the years, I like the bit at the end when the girls are trying to push their way through at the Train station to say goodbye to their men {the Yanks} and they say mind out of the way shes pregnant.... and Lynne Perrie {Ivy tilsey from coronation street} shouts "so `s half the bloody town love"...... that was the downside of those dashing Yanks, the babies they left behind who never knew their fathers. I recognise all the bits you mentioned Pam, must try and see it again soon, its a beautiful film, and Richard Gere just smoulders all the way through it.........

Youv`e got a good memory David, remembering Christopher Plummer in Sherlock Holmes..





Nicky

I don't think Murder by Decree was written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The story was made for film .

Remember The House of Wax ?

Hi Pam,

Out of the five films you've listed, I've only ever seen Ryan's Daughter. Thought it was a fantastic film - wasn't that one John Mills' only Oscar winner? I seem to remember him saying it was typical - it was the only part he played that he never spoke in and he won an Oscar!


Ed

Hi Ed, yes you're right he played a mute in it. and as you say it won him an Oscar as his character Michael I think it was. I really like that film and glad you do, it's not to everyone's taste though. Some people have said they find it a bit bleak, but it's more than just a love story it's about the Irish troubles that were going on then too.

I remember hearing somewhere that Christopher Jones' voice had to be dubbed as he couldn't get the English accent right. Of course I believe he was very unhappy in that film as he was possibly still reeling from the awful Sharon Tate murder in 1968, he was apparantly very much in love with her and even seeing her when she was with Roman Polanski.

How that bas*ard Charles Manson is still alive I don't know...but I'd better not go down that road!!

Hello all,

Christopher Plummer - he's played some diverse roles hasn't he? I remember seeing him in a film where he played an Inca King under the cosh of the Conquistadores led by Robert Shaw.

I think he was also in Night of the Generals - didn't he play Rommel?

Yes I remember that film Ed. When he spoke in it as the Inca King he had an accent obviousley, but what stuck in my mind was he made funny little noises as he spoke. They garroted him in the end. Very disturbing.

Another character he played got horribly burned (Is there any other way) in Battle of Britain

There was a German in that film guys (and gals) I'm sure he was in Kelly's Heros in the Tiger tank defending the bank that Kelly & co relieved of 16000 gold bars.

Yes David he played Sussanna York's husband in that film. Also Kenneth More was in it too.

Hi all,

Didn't they film a lot of the Battle of Britain at Duxford? I seem to remember reading that the making of the film caused more damage to the airbase than the Germans in the Second World War!

Wasn't Laurence Olivier in it too as Hugh Dowding?

Yes David, you're right, the German was also in Kelly's Heroes. I just Googled him and his name is Karl-Otto Alberty - he was also in the Great Escape and The Battle of the Bulge.

Ed

Obviously a bit of a shortage of German actors around the 60s and 70s then .......if they had to get the same guy Karl Otto Alberty to keep playing a soldier in POW /War films .........lol




Time for another list I think............

Prison Dramas

The Shawshank Redemption............ Tim robbins and Morgan Freeman in the adaption from a Stephen King book about a Banker wrongly jailed for the murder of his wife in 40s america, and his life over the next 20 years....absolutely Brilliant...

Escape from Alcatraz........ Clint Eastwood and Patrick McGooan based on a true story.......Alcatraz was shut down shortly after the escape of the 3 prisoners portrayed in this film.

The Rock........ Sean Connery and Nicholas Cage in a film based and filmed on Alcatraz { not really a prison drama, but its good so thought I`d include it}

Murder in the First.........Kevin Bacon and Christian Slater in a fictional story set on Alcatraz, the films actually set after Alcatraz had closed, but shows the brutal prison regime and Kevin Bacon plays a prisoner slowly descending in to madness due to his time in Solitary...not for the squeamish, but well acted by all concerned.

The Great Escape......Steve Mcqueen with the piercing blue eyes, and a star studded cast, what can anyone say about such a brilliant film that hasn`t been said already..........

Nicky

Oooh Nicky - don't know about a shortage of German actors ...

Anton Diffring
Hardy Kruger
Victor Beaumont
Maximilian Schell (OK he's Austrian)

Hmmm ... prison films. Yes the Shawshank Redemption - excellent film. Escape from Alcatraz a good one as well.

What about Cool Hand Luke or The Green Mile?

Ed

EDIT: Sorry, had to add McVicar and The Birdman of Alcatraz as fave prison dramas. Does the Great Escape fall into a different genre: Prisoner of War films? If so, then there's 100s!

Evening all, talking of German actors, Jan Niklas is very good. Nice looking too.

Oh Pam, trust you to find a bit of "eye candy"!

Gert Frobe is another one...but I didn't fancy him!!!
He was very funny in Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines. It was nice the way he sent up the germans,and being one himself too.

Well I do my best!

Evening Ed........ Yes Mc Vicar and Green Mile both favourites as well, also Papillion, but decided to just put 5...... I could probably put 20 quite easily, yes see your point Great Escape probably isn`t actually a Prison drama, but its a bl****y brilliant film, so deserves to be in my list...........

I may even include it again if i do a xmas favourites list.......lol


Cool Hand Luke...isn`t that Paul Newman and the Hard boiled Eggs!!!

Birdman of ALCATRAZ.......I can see a bit of a theme building up here.........

If you go to San Francisco you can go on a boat trip that takes you out sailing around the prison......... must try and get there one day.........

EDIT another excellent one......Monsters Ball starring Billy Bob Thornton, Halle Berry and the late Heath Ledger
Nicky

Gert Frobe - forgot about him. Classic line:

"No Mr Bond, I expect you to die!"

Hi Nicky, yes Cool Hand Luke is the one with the eggs ...

Perhaps Alcatraz will be the most featured place in our film lists ...

I remember a really fascinating programme on the telly a few years back about Marlene Dietrich. She allowed Maximilian Schell to interview her about her life, but you didn't get to see her just hear her. It was in her Paris apartment, it was really good. What style she had, I really liked her. She had such presence. I can't listen to her singing Lilli Marlene and also Where Have all the Flowers Gone, without filling up. True icon.