Brando&Simmons - I'll Know

[Héctor]

[ilovebaroque]

Oy vey- will Marlon ever know if he can sing?

What a blast from the past. Great song , even if poor Marlon can't sing his way out of a paper bag! Thanks for sharing!

Now, how did you get your YT player embedded here? Please explain it to me real simple... Please don't assume I understand any of these things !

[Héctor]

Originally Posted by ilovebaroque

Now, how did you get your YT player embedded here? Please explain it to me real simple... Please don't assume I understand any of these things !

You can find a good explanation here: You tube clips

[Tarantella]

Brando was a fabulous star and possibly the most beautiful male incarnation ever to reach the screen, but this "Guys and Dolls" score was just terrible. The melody, or what passes for it, in this number is dismal - it almost breaks up searching for itself. And the lyrics! These reveal what diminished expectations women had back in those days!! I'm afraid I have to agree with Brando - she's going to find a boring fella! Who's kidding whom: she's standing next to magnificent hunk trying to convince US she's not interested. Now THAT is funny!

[Héctor]

Originally Posted by Tarantella

These reveal what diminished expectations women had back in those days!!

Simmons is almost a nun there...

[ilovebaroque]

Originally Posted by Tarantella

Brando was a fabulous star and possibly the most beautiful male incarnation ever to reach the screen, but this "Guys and Dolls" score was just terrible. The melody, or what passes for it, in this number is dismal - it almost breaks up searching for itself. And the lyrics! These reveal what diminished expectations women had back in those days!! I'm afraid I have to agree with Brando - she's going to find a boring fella! Who's kidding whom: she's standing next to magnificent hunk trying to convince US she's not interested. Now THAT is funny!

You're right on about Brando, Tarantella; he certainly was a hunk. (Brad Pitt-move over!) Whose cockamamie idea was it however, to pretend he can carry a tune? It's painful to watch Perhaps you can shed some light on that one?

[ilovebaroque]

Originally Posted by Héctor

Simmons is almost a nun there...

But she sang like an angel

[Tarantella]

Originally Posted by ilovebaroque

You're right on about Brando, Tarantella; he certainly was a hunk. (Brad Pitt-move over!) Whose cockamamie idea was it however, to pretend he can carry a tune? It's painful to watch Perhaps you can shed some light on that one?

I cannot really suggest why Brando did his own singing - it's a bit like John Wayne trying to carry a tune. Perhaps they thought that with a star so famous and high-profile that people would know if it wasn't his voice. There was something sexy about that failed voice. He was an interesting man and I read recently that he was actively bi-sexual and had lived with a male lover for decades up until his death. He had phenomenal gifts; that's all I know. The only tune I liked in "Guys and Dolls" was "Sit down, you're rocking the boat". The words were very good and I think Stubby Kay sang it in the film.

The other day I watched "Giant" again and there was James Dean - just a few weeks before his death - stealing the picture. He was another great talent but director George Stevens hated him and the whole picture was fraught with tension because of this. The film has a classic scene where Lesley is challenging the men because it's "men's talk; you ladies toddle off to bed"!! Liz Taylor was quite wonderful as the defiant Lesley and I don't know if you remember the scene - husband, Jordan (Rock Hudson), comes up to bed cranky because she has told his friends "they still carried clubs and wore skins and lived in caves" and Jordan wants to sleep in the next room, but she 'talks him round' ("I'm sorry, darling, about my 'cave man' speech") and he agrees to sleep back in her bed. Next morning - searching for his boots, he complains, somewhat sleepily, "I can't handle these fights - they wear me out"!!!!!!! It's classy and I love it.

[ilovebaroque]

Originally Posted by Tarantella

he was actively bi-sexual and had lived with a male lover for decades up until his death.

Oy, NO!!! Not HIM!!!!I'm going to throw myself out the window now (luckily I'm only on the first floor)

"I can't handle these fights - they wear me out"!!!!!!! It's classy and I love it.

That is class. With all the nudity and graphic sexuality "in our faces" all the time, does anyone get turned on by anything anymore?

We threw out our TV back in the 80's. As for movies, etc, I haven't been able to sit through one for years. Bores me to the screaming point. So I make do with an occasional "oldie" or more often than not, I'll read. I have a problem with the "emotional manipulation" I sense whenever I'm watching a drama (or even a "comedy"). The messages are there; for better or for worse.

Enough of my ranting for today!

[Tarantella]

I enjoy your "rants" as they are filled with enthusiasm and love for the art form!!

Agree about the emotional manipulation of modern film (I speak of the megaplex variety, mostly) which treats people as sheep with very little intelligence. You know, I think it's become a self-fulfilling prophesy. Great subtlety still appears in film, but it has to have an excellent screenplay for this to happen. I'm thinking, just as one example, of the film from the 1990's called "Donnie Brasco" with Pacino and Depp. Yes, it has lots of violence because it's a film based on the undercover exploits of an FBI agent (still living) who worked with the Mob in NY. Paul Attanasio wrote a wonderful screenplay for this plot and the relationship between Depp and Pacino is extraordinary. Two great performers when chemistry is the dominant element of their relationship. By turns violent, hostile, threatening right down to tender, trusting and vulnerable. See the film if you can. Pacino is simply fabulous, bringing Depp along and revealing a, well, 'dep-th' to his acting I didn't know was there.

But many many films today are just awful. I used to teach film to all levels of high-school students and they were absolutely confronted by my approach to modern cinema, deconstructing it and showing its many superficialities. They'd come to school after these lessons and say, "Miss, we went to the movies this weekend and all we could think about was 'wide shot, close-up, framing, axis of action" etc. It's YOUR fault!!" Students took it so personally - it was their cinema and any attempt to criticize was seen as heresy. So, there's the extent of the 'problem'!!