Comments on The Film Doctor: Notable film and media links--May 25, 2009--Memori...

You may be right, Anonymous, but one likes to look...

2009-06-01T10:12:29.962-04:00

You may be right, Anonymous, but one likes to look for some reason why a film like The Wizard of Oz seems better than a happy accident. Also, I like the way Denby discusses the contemporary relevance of the sexual politics of Gone With the Wind.

It says a lot about changing critical standards th...

2009-05-31T10:38:30.480-04:00

It says a lot about changing critical standards that the same middlebrow critics, like Denby and Sragow, who heaped scorn on auteurists for valuing the work of Hitchcock and Ford, now whine that the autuerists unfairly neglected a marginal figure like Fleming. Yes, he had his name on a couple of films that remain exemplars of the Hollywood factory system, but what real talent he had -- as shown in his silent films -- is gone by the mid-30s. At MGM, he was just a cog in a very big machine.

Thanks, Sam, but I will withhold opinion on The Gi...

2009-05-26T20:39:26.483-04:00

Thanks, Sam, but I will withhold opinion on The Girlfriend Experience until I see the film, since Soderbergh is one of my favorite contemporary directors. I did pan Ocean's 13, however. I may post that review soon.

And yes, Victor Fleming makes for fascinating reading. I had never thought about how his depiction of the sexual politics between Scarlett and Rhett modernizes Gone With the Wind.

I must agree that for the most part that THE GIRLF...

2009-05-26T12:38:41.957-04:00

I must agree that for the most part that THE GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE is indeed "little more than a "yawn" and "an exploitative stunt" as much as I respect the director. I saw the film over the weekend as the second part of a magnificent documentray on the Sherman Brothers, and you can guess which film stayed with me.

Thanks for the Denby Fleming piece. I have defended this man for decades, and have concluded that anyone who could helm two of the greatedst films in American cinema (and in one calandar year no less) can't be praised and revered enough.