cahn | Frederick the Great, discussion post 6

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...I think we need another one (seriously, you guys, this is THE BEST) and I'd better make it now before I disappear into the wilds of music performance.

(also, as of this week there are two Frederician fics in the yuletide archive and eeeeeeeeeee)
(huh, only one of them is actually tagged with Frederick the Great even though two with Maria Theresia and Wilhelmine, eeeeeee this is awesome I CAN'T WAIT)

Frederick the Great masterpost

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From:

selenak

It occurs to me that if you haven't seen either of their movies, I might as well do a rec list:

ET:

For her as a child star, "National Velvet" (typical "a girl and her horse" movie) or "Little Women" (she has the worst role as Amy the brat and still steals the movie from Jo)

Ingenue ET: "Father of the Bride" is a charming Father/daughter comedy for Spencer Tracy in the title role; it's also one of the few times she's playing the innocent good girl, because soon, the studios figured out this is not her Trope

Raintree Country: One of those she made with her friend Montgomery Clift. She's the bad girl to good girl Eva Maria Saint here. Make that seductive and insane bad girl.

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof: She's Maggie the Cat, married to repressed (and depressed) gay Tennessee Williams hero Paul Newman (in the 50s, which means no one is allowed to say "gay" on screen, but it's clear what the problem is) and stuck in a ghastly family. Unlike most Tennessee Williams heroines, Maggie manages to come out on top of this situation regardless and reconciles with her husband to boot (in a "we team up" case, not in a "now he's completely straight" case). This was the movie everyone says she should have gotten the Oscar for. She got it for the later "Butterfield 8" where she plays a call girl, but "Cat on a hot Tin Roof" is the better movie.

Cleopatra: still one of the most watchable historical epics, courtesy of Joseph P. Mankiewicz' witty script. The first part with Caesar is by universal acclaim better than the second part with Antony, but then, rising is always more fun than decline.

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Not Elizabeth Taylor. This is hands down her greatest screen outing, and it's eternally frustrating that people assume there was no acting involved and she and Burton were just performing their private lives as George and Martha. Yes, both couples were alcoholics at that point with a can't live with/can't live without thing going, but the personalities are very different. More here.

Taming of the Shrew: Just fun. This was her and RB taking a holiday after the dramatic heavy lifting of "Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf", and shows in the best way. Directed by Franco Zeffirelli, shot on location in Italy, sexy and funny both.

Richard Burton:

"The Spy Who Came In From The Cold": he's great in the title role, but it's also worth watching because a whole new spy genre was invented with this version of John Le Carré's novel.

"Night of the Iguana": script by Tennessee Williams, Ava Gardner and Deborah Kerr in the female leading roles, and they're as great as Burton is.

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and Taming of the Shrew for Burton as well as Taylor; he doesn't get to do more than fall apart as Antony in "Cleopatra", hence me not listing it here, but his George in "Who's afraid…" should have gotten him an Oscar (so thought John Wayne, too, who actually got it that year and just handed it over to RB), and his Petruccio is one of the few examples of how to sell that role even today without making it icky as hell.

1984: Chilling and fantastically well made, based on Orwell's novel. John Hurt is Winston Smith, Burton in his last screen role is O'Brien. His back was killing him and he could hardly move anymore at this point, but he's really really good and the scenes between him and Hurt have never been bettered in what they are. (Don't want to spoil it just in case you're not familiar.)

From:

cahn

This is amazing. And several of these, most notably Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, are on my mental list of "things I should probably watch... one day... someday..." so now those have shot up in priority. Er. After I watch all the OTHER things you have given me to watch :D (Although it does occur to me that my spouse might be more on board watching these than watching Random Movie about Frederick the Great :P He'd definitely be more on board watching these than watching opera!)

I am familiar with 1984 the book, and wow. Yeah, this makes me want to watch it.

From:

selenak

Because brief scenes give an Impression without taking so much time as movies:

Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift: first on screen encounter

Cat on a hot tin Roof: Maggie confronts her husband with the truth. Well, as much of it as the laws of 50s cinema permitted. Skipper is her husband's dead bff and probably more, whom she had sex with once because she was jealous.

Petruccio proposes to Katharina in "Taming of the Shrew":

Two scenes from "Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf?" showing why this is still the gold standard of dysfunctional marriage dramas which sooner or later all middle aged actors (male and female) play. Though rarely as well as these two:

Boxing Match (not a literal one)

Snapped

Richard Burton as O'Brien in 1984 (filmed in the last year of his life)

Shipper vid!

Dominic West and Helena Bonham Carter on playing Burton and Taylor