Tennessee Williams Film Collection

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Lino · #1 Post by **Lino** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 9:52 am

I know this is pure speculation but wouldn't it be grandious? I mean, Warner owns A Streetcar named Desire (coming out next year on a 2xDVD), Cat on a hot tin roof (already out on DVD), Baby Doll, The Night of the Iguana, Sweet Bird of Youth (all three coming out next year on DVD), so it would make all the sense in the world to release them together, right?

You see, I more than crave this to happen - I NEED it for the life of me! Tennessee Williams is GOD!

Lino · #2 Post by **Lino** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 10:30 am

I only wish that Suddenly Last Summer and Boom! were also Warner properties - that way the set would be close to perfection!

pzman84 · #3 Post by **pzman84** » Thu Oct 27, 2005 2:51 am

Is it just me or is Williams one of those guys that was really controversial 50 years ago and today his work is not only tame but borderline trashy (I can't go on a complete rant agaist him because I deeply admire Marlon Brando).

Narshty · #4 Post by **Narshty** » Thu Oct 27, 2005 5:10 am

I always thought Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! was the great Tennessee Williams play he never wrote.

Lino · #5 Post by **Lino** » Wed Nov 02, 2005 12:40 pm

davidhare wrote:It's not a Warner title but you are overlooking the unintentionally hilarious Suddenly Last Summer

(...)

Boom! must be the major exception, teetering straight into high Camp.

(...)

For inclusion in Annie's Warner titles - Roman Spring of Mrs Stone. And Has anyone ever made a movie of the short story "Hard Candy"?

I thought I had included Suddenly... on the directly previous post to yours.

Can you tell me a little bit about Boom! and Roman Spring...? Those are two titles I've yet to watch and I am curious about what you have to say about the former...

Lino · #6 Post by **Lino** » Sun Nov 13, 2005 8:30 am

So, to sum it up, so far we have:

The Glass Menagerie (1950)
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0042509/

A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0044081/

Baby Doll (1956)
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0048973/

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958)
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0051459/

The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (1961)
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0055382/

Sweet Bird of Youth (1962)
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0056541/

The Night of the Iguana (1964)
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0058404/

7 titles in total and if it does materialize, a serious candidate for boxset of the year 2006!

Now off I go to see a docu about Williams I taped from TV a few years ago - this thread really opened my appetite for davidhare's above mentioned "Southern Gothic"!

Michael · #7 Post by **Michael** » Wed Nov 16, 2005 9:10 am

I'm a big fan of Southern Gothic literature. Flannery O'Connor and Truman Capote are among my favorite writers. In fact, I had just finished reading Capote's first novel Other Voices, Other Rooms for the hundredth time. It truly is sublime. The prose is perfect and hallucinatory. The idea that a 24-year old wrote it is almost terrifying. If you haven't read anything by O'Connor, then all I have to say: "what the @#!% are you waiting for?". Jim Grimsley wrote an absolutely beautiful short novel called Dream Boy some years ago. An intoxicating piece of the new Southern Gothic I must say. Any more examples?

Anyway back to the films, I really like A Streetcar Named Desire very much - the best of the Tennesee Williams lot. Mainly for Marlon Brando's sexy, visceral performance. Suddenly, Last Summer is my next favorite. It's a hoot. It must be seen to believe. Loads of craziness and best of all, it has Elizabeth Taylor, Katharine Hepburn and Montgomery Clift.

I'm trying to think of other Southern Gothic films. How about Sling Blade? There has to be more but right now my mind is bustling with other things.

carax09 · #8 Post by **carax09** » Sat Nov 19, 2005 9:18 pm

Well, how about The Fugitive Kind from a Tennessee Williams play (Orpheus Descending) with Southern Gothic just sweating out of everyone and Marlon Brando like a mumbling force of nature, with a guitar given to him by Ledbelly, trying to save up enough money to get the hell out. And it's got one of Mr. Williams' favorite actresses (and my great-aunt) Anna Magnani, giving a typically impassioned performance. Apparently, Brando and Magnani really disliked each other, but negative chemistry is still chemistry, and the scenes they share burn a hole through the celluloid.
Incidentally, if you ever wondered how Wong Kar-Wai came up with his recurring motif of a bird that only lands when it dies, it comes from this play/film. It is a lovely image.

Eugene Magnani

Lino · #9 Post by **Lino** » Sun Nov 20, 2005 11:10 am

davidhare wrote: I would love to see a lot more Magnani titles released to DVD including Rose Tattoo

Pssst...

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002E ... ance&n=130

It's been over a year...

#10 Post by **zedz** » Sun Nov 20, 2005 7:06 pm

davidhare wrote:I also like (but nobody else does) Clint's Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil - undoubtedly the only movie in which Kevin Spacey will ever play a fag.

Uh, have you not seen L.A. Confidential?

Ashirg · #11 Post by **Ashirg** » Wed Nov 23, 2005 6:08 pm

Tennessee Williams Film Collection
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof - Special Edition
Streetcar Named Desire - Special Edition
Night of the Iguana
Sweet Bird Of Youth
Baby Doll
Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone

Lino · #12 Post by **Lino** » Wed Nov 23, 2005 6:19 pm

No...fucking...way...! The DVD gods were listening...!

Ok, guys - now I can officially be christened "The Criterionforum.org's Resident Sybilla".

Thank you, thank you, thank you! I am ecstatic at this news!

(make this an official thread on the Warner section now!)

devlinnn · #13 Post by **devlinnn** » Mon Nov 28, 2005 3:43 am

Great news on the boxset.

One title we look to have forgotten, and I haven't seen it in years, is Pollack's adaption of This Property is Condemned (script by Coppola). Natalie Wood gave a great and very sexy performance, who was teamed well with a young Redford. Yet the production as a whole seemed very flat, jaded. I should try and seek it out to refresh the memory.

justeleblanc · #14 Post by **justeleblanc** » Mon Nov 28, 2005 3:58 am

What an A+ prediction!!!!!!!

Now Annie, do you see Ken Russell in the future?

Lino · #15 Post by **Lino** » Mon Nov 28, 2005 5:05 am

Yes!

viewtopic.php?p=48390#48390

Lino · #16 Post by **Lino** » Sat Dec 03, 2005 6:58 am

davidhare wrote:Annie did you ever see the corny David Frost TV program when he came out with the "I cover the waterfront" answer to Frost's "are you gay" question?

I haven't actually seen the TV program but I managed to catch that bit on a docu about Williams that I taped from The Biography Channel, I think. And it was pretty hilarious, I must admit! Plus, he was pissed drunk on that one!

Love you back but what Lilith? The Robert Rossen one?

Lino · #17 Post by **Lino** » Sat Dec 03, 2005 12:24 pm

This is a lazy Saturday so I went scouting for possible cover art for all the titles in the upcoming box.

A Streetcar named Desire

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Night of the Iguana

Sweet Bird of Youth

Baby Doll

The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone

Warner tends to use original poster art for their DVD covers and that's perfectly OK and even commendable but of the above, I'm only keen on the Cat one, I'm afraid.

Lino · #18 Post by **Lino** » Sat Dec 03, 2005 1:04 pm

I can't get this box out of my mind. I'm especially curious about the new SE of Cat - well overdue. Anyway, while browsing through another forum I found a justification for the non-inclusion of The Glass Menagerie:

Fox has ALL rights to THE GLASS MENAGERIE which was produced by one-time agent, later film-producer Charles K. Feldman at Warners, with full Warner input. The same with STREETCAR the following year.

Warner Bros. lost their distribution rights to both films after seven years, and Feldman later made a deal with Fox for both STREETCAR and GLASS MENAGERIE. Feldman took the rights back to STREETCAR when they lapsed, but Fox kept MENAGERIE. STREETCAR later traveled to United Artists, then Lorimar. When Feldman died he left the ownership of the film to the Motion Picture & Television Fund. Warners got STREETCAR "back home" with its purchase of Lorimar, but had to negotiate a new distribution deal with the MP&TF to continue distribution. As it is one of their crown jewels, I doubt they'll let it go again.

One other reason for personal rejoice is that I've only recently found out that Lotte Lenya is part of the cast of Roman Stone! You gotta luv Lotte!

Lino · #19 Post by **Lino** » Sat Dec 03, 2005 5:44 pm

davidhare wrote: Re Lilith, was thinking of the classical girl, but either Jean Seberg or Helen Walkerwould do.

Jean Seberg for me, s'il vous plait! I love that girl!

http://www.saintjean.co.uk/portrait.htm

#20 Post by **kinjitsu** » Sat Dec 03, 2005 9:22 pm

davidhare wrote: I'll be the one reading the NY Herald Tribune.

That must be an old, musty paper by now!

#21 Post by **kinjitsu** » Sat Dec 03, 2005 9:45 pm

davidhare wrote:Believe it or not you could still buy the Trib in Paris up to the eighties. It was never much chop as a journal but Jean imbued it with her own magic, and one always bought it out of memory for her.

Nowadays one can always make do with the International Herald Trib, but at a kiosk, not alas, from une belle fille sur la rue.

Lino · #22 Post by **Lino** » Sun Dec 04, 2005 7:06 am

davidhare wrote:BTW do you have the gorgeous Columbia DVD of Bonjour Tristesse?

Not yet!

That's my very favorite film of hers (have watched it countless times) and although she is more hip in Breathless, this is the one that does it for me. Guess I have to order it now.

Love the Saul Bass opening credits, love the music, love her clothes, her hairdo, and to top that David Niven is her dad and Deborah Kerr his girlfriend! How cool is that? This is one for rainy afternoons, definitely!

Lino · #23 Post by **Lino** » Sun Dec 04, 2005 8:46 am

Well, don't we live in fast times! Had to go out this morning to do some errands and entered a shop where I dutefully proceeded to buy both Suddenly Last Summer and Bonjour Tristesse for dirt cheap prices: 12,99 â‚¬ for the former and 9,90â‚¬ for the latter! A steal, no less! And since this is a rainy afternoon now, guess that leaves me no excuse to pay Miss Seberg a visit.

Now over to the Tennessee Williams theme (this is his thread, after all). I feel very curious as to how I will feel when I rewatch Suddenly... again. The first time I saw it, I was very little and while the film certainly left a deep impression on me (hell, I literally remember certain vivid scenes as if I just watched them last night) many years have passed since then and now I am no longer someone who felt a little unaware at what that whole underlying thing around Monty's friends really was! Innocence lost, indeed.

Hmm...guess I'll email Mulvaney about Boom! now.

Lino · #24 Post by **Lino** » Wed Dec 07, 2005 6:15 am

That's a nice thing to look forward to. No promises. We'll see. Always wanted to visit Paris. Been to London and Berlin. Guess the french capital is next on the menu.

Lino · #25 Post by **Lino** » Wed Dec 07, 2005 7:15 am

davidhare wrote:Tu parles Francais? That's "parles", not "do". (I do both personally. Soanyway, to quote Daria.) Damn! Where's that Monsieur Schrek? BTW how tall are you?

Bien sur, Monsieur! And german. And spanish. And a bit of italian. Oh, and portuguese too! Rendez-vous at the Soanyway River? I am 1m 70cm (you do the maths, here

), brown hair and eyes.