drednm wrote:The older I get, the better "mawkishness" sounds!!
For the most part, yes. But as Bob notes, the tear-jerking LES MISERABLES is going over with modern audiences, and I'd say that SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK is as tear-jerkingly sentimental as the best of them with a little of something for everybody. Even Quentin Tarantino can't seem to resist a sentimental, heavily cathartic (albeit graphically violent) climax and mawkish happy ending (and while he may be winking at audiences familiar with the films he's copying, today's average audiences don't have a clue about 90% or more of his allusions).drednm wrote:Today's audiences sniff at anything "sentimental" or "mawkish" unless it's an animated film. That seems to be where our emotional stories have ended up ... not to mention musicals (for the most part).
Ironically, critics used to argue that the resolutely unsentimental Keaton was superior to Chaplin because the latter appealed too much to emotions.greta de groat wrote:I'm not that up on current culture, but I'm not sure that the anti-sentimentality thing is as much now as it was in the 20th century--partly due to intellectuals trying to separate themselves from popular culture and partly as the rejection of things considered "feminine" which lead to the weakening of true masculinity and by extension civilization itself. I think this was an early to mid-century thing moreso than now, and since many of us on this group are 50+ we remember these values as part of our cultural memories even when we don't agree with them. II know that young people are supposed to be über-cool and ironic, but they talk in incessantly of passion which doesn't seem to jibe with that notion, and the hit musicals, despite the posing, seem rife with sentimentality.
Personally I prefer sentimentality to the fetishization of sex and violence, it seems a less destructive form of exploitation.
Greta
Again, UCLA apparently has a complete print and it has been restored. And it is indeed a shame Ann Harding is not better remembered. She played lots of modern emancipated women in her early talkies, which I would think would appeal to today's audience, but ......entredeuxguerres wrote:Finally obtained copy of the 1931 ed., due to generosity of another member. AMPLY deserved Best Picture nomination, & though not my top choice for '31, beats the pants off the winner, Cimarron. Probably Ann Harding's best performance, though I love them all; without a doubt, she never looked more ravishing. (She also sang in a sweet voice an unfortunately morose ballad.)
As I already knew, ending is missing, & thus I didn't get to hear Ann declaim that immortal line, "gone, gone...." Don't understand, however, how that comment could have been apt considering she'd previously lived with child until the age of about 3; how closely film adheres to novel & play is unknown to me, but irrelevant. A particular shame ending is missing, because quality of this print is better than majority of pictures from same year or earlier.
...but ignorance rules. Best of them was The Animal Kingdom. Did she actively campaign for such roles, I've wondered, or did they just drift her way?drednm wrote:And it is indeed a shame Ann Harding is not better remembered. She played lots of modern emancipated women in her early talkies, which I would think would appeal to today's audience, but ......
entredeuxguerres wrote:Haven't watched Jimmy Dolan in a long time (though I love it), but did so again last night, & paid attention to a cryptic remark I guess I previously ignored. After Loretta Young has told Doug Fairbanks Jr. that her childrens' home is about to be foreclosed, & he's asked what will happen, Aline MacMahon exclaims, "East Lynn." Not sure myself exactly what she meant, & she explained no further, but it was obviously assumed the audience would still "get it" as late as 1933.
Makes sense now.Bob Birchard wrote:I think it's a reference (oft repeated reference at the time) to "Next week: East Lynne," or in other words life is complicated and it will go on a la "East Lynne."
