Comments | kirarakim: An Appreciation for James Mason

kirarakim

An Appreciation for James Mason

Jun 05, 2010 09:18

So lucky Canadians (well those who live in Toronto) are getting an awesome film retrospective of James Mason's work. I am so jealous. We never have anything cool like this here. No I am not counting Metropolis/Breathless because that is playing across the country. I mean something that is dedicated to Classic Film/Film History that is special to ( Read more... )

cary grant, classic film, cats

Comments 15

zauberer_sirin June 5 2010, 14:41:50 UTC

I will always love James Mason. I think he is incredibly attractive and one of the best actors ever. Brutus is one of my favourite Shakespeare characters (up there with Horatio and Twelfth Night's Antonio) and his performance had a lot to do with my early fascination for him. He helped me make sense of Shakespeare.

Plus hey, he was Humbert Humbert. ♥

ps. Odd man out is amazing, isn't it? It's sad how few people are real fans of the movie but it's one underrated gem, i love it.

kirarakim June 5 2010, 17:15:10 UTC

Now Julius Caesar is one I have not seen yet but your comment has got me to add it to my Netflix Queue. :)

The problem is a lot of Mason's films are not widely available here, Odd Man Out happens to be one of them so I was really lucky to have seen that but there are many more (some in that retrospective) that I want to see but can't. But I agree Odd Man Out is great and I am so glad I was able to watch it.

zauberer_sirin June 5 2010, 20:09:57 UTC

Marlon Brando is a pretty sucky Mark Anthony but that's alright cause Mark Anthony was a douche anyway & I always got the feeling - re-reading the play and seeing it live - that Shakespeare didn't like him very much. Other than that it's a great version of Julius Caesar.

kirarakim June 5 2010, 21:44:10 UTC

I am kind of meh on Marlon Brando anyways. I am not saying he is a bad actor & I like him in some things (Godfather, On the Water Front for instance) but he isn't my type of actor.

Thread 8

deana_l June 6 2010, 04:56:24 UTC

Oh he absolutely has a sexy voice...I always thought so.

He played Watson opposite Christopher Plummer as Sherlock Holmes in 'Murder by Decree', which was an excellent SH movie. You should definitely rent it.

zauberer_sirin June 6 2010, 10:13:07 UTC

He played Watson opposite Christopher Plummer as Sherlock Holmes in 'Murder by Decree', which was an excellent SH movie.

I SO AGREE. Murder by Decree is awesome and cool and kickass and basically everything that's good in the world.

kirarakim June 6 2010, 12:24:37 UTC

Oh cool thanks for the recommendations. I love Sherlock Holmes too (and it actually sounds like they didn't make Watson bumbling this time which I hate in so many other films).

kittenbiscuits June 9 2010, 17:15:25 UTC

I adore James Mason. There are five actors with the best voices ever: Ronald Colman, Claude Rains, George Sanders, Charles Boyer, and James Mason.

I could listen to them all damn day.

kirarakim June 9 2010, 20:34:28 UTC

Oh yes sexy English (and French) voices :D

missusk June 9 2010, 20:43:52 UTC

wow - how nice to read an appreciation of Mr. Mason - one of my favorite actors EVER - it's a shame that some of his best movies and performances aren't available on Region 1 DVD. Some of my favorites - The Seventh Veil (a fine example of the rather disturbing persona that made him an international star), Five Fingers (Mason considered this his best Hollywood film and I agree), The Reckless Moment and Caught (both directed by Max Ophuls). He's also very good (and yes, incredibly atrractive) in a film he wrote and starred in with his wife Pamela, The Upturned Glass, which is available on a Region1 DVD called "Classic British Thrillers." Then there is the totally loopy Pandora and the Flying Dutchman with Ava Gardner which I believe is going to get a BluRay release soon ( ... )

kirarakim June 9 2010, 21:35:58 UTC

Well I will also say wow because I wasn't expecting to get such a great comment to this post. :)

I am also very sad/bitter that a lot of Mason's stuff is unavailable in R1 land. I actually tried finding the two Ophuls films online the other day but sadly all the torrents were dead. My only hope is maybe TCM will play them one day because they do occasionally play films that are not out on video.

And thanks for all those tidbits I didn't know most of that. Well I did know Davis was considered for Hepburn's role in the AQ but not about Mason. Although I do love Bogie/Hepburn in that film that would have been an interesting choice.

And it would have been awesome to have Mason work with Renoir (one of my favorite directors),. The River is quite a good film too. I just saw that one fairly recently

Oh and thanks so much for those Poe readings. Somehow Mason + Poe seems to go together perfectly in my mind.