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SCFZ poll: King Vidor
Posted: Tue Jun 18, 2019 10:53 am
by flip
Polling the films of director King Vidor
The rules:
- your list can include no more than half of the K Vidor films you've seen, up to a maximum of 5. So if you've seen seven of his films, for example, you can list only a top 3. It's only if you've seen ten or more of his films than you can list the maximum of five.
- i'll assume ballots are ranked unless you tell me otherwise. unranked ballots are fine.
- deadline for ballots: next Tuesday, in seven days, whatever day that is
- if anyone is watching films for these polls, then i'll extend the deadline three days, if someone requests an extension
- next poll: whoever posts the first ballot in this thread is free to nominate the director we poll next, unless you've nominated in this round already (everyone should get a chance). Already nominated this round: brian d, greennui, ofrene, kanafani, bure, greg x, oscarwerner, silga, dt, umbugbene, roscoe, rischka, wba, thoxans, mesnalty, caracortada, joks, zulawski, nrh, evelyn, st gloede, mauries
umbugbene created an index on letterboxd of all of our previous polls here: letterboxd.com/umbugbene/list/index-of-all-scfz-director-polls/
one rule for nominees: at least 3 scfzers need to have seen 10+ of a nominee's films, or at least 4 scfzers need to have seen at least 8 of the nom's films, so if it isn't clear if that will be the case, we'll confirm that's true before moving forward
if 24 hours pass after a poll opens, and no one eligible to nominate has posted a ballot, then i'll nominate someone, and then we'll start over, and everyone will be able to nominate again
Re: SCFZ poll: King Vidor
Posted: Tue Jun 18, 2019 10:54 am
by flip
Comrade X
Man Without a Star
seen five
Re: SCFZ poll: King Vidor
Posted: Tue Jun 18, 2019 11:08 am
by greennui
The Patsy
Metaphor: King Vidor Meets with Andrew Wyeth
La Bohème
Duel in the Sun
Seen 8.
Re: SCFZ poll: King Vidor
Posted: Tue Jun 18, 2019 11:19 am
by mesnalty
Seen 5:
1. The Big Parade
2. Stella Dallas
Re: SCFZ poll: King Vidor
Posted: Tue Jun 18, 2019 11:29 am
by kanafani
The Crowd
The Big Parade
Hallelujah
Our Daily Bread
the Champ
Re: SCFZ poll: King Vidor
Posted: Tue Jun 18, 2019 12:23 pm
by ...
Wedding Night
Bardelys the Magnificent
Beyond the Forest
Ruby Gentry
Stella Dallas
21 Vidors viewed
Re: SCFZ poll: King Vidor
Posted: Tue Jun 18, 2019 1:10 pm
by brian d
i’ve only seen 2
duel in the sun
Re: SCFZ poll: King Vidor
Posted: Tue Jun 18, 2019 1:19 pm
by wba
01. The Crowd
Vidor seen: 3
Re: SCFZ poll: King Vidor
Posted: Tue Jun 18, 2019 1:43 pm
by rischka
LOL@wba's new avatar!
17 vidors
the crowd
the big parade
hallelujah
show people
the patsy
sticking with mostly silents. i love duel in the sun but it's hard to assign credit there i think
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Re: SCFZ poll: King Vidor
Posted: Tue Jun 18, 2019 1:54 pm
by Lencho of the Apes
The Crowd
The Big Parade
Our Daily Bread
Street Scene
Re: SCFZ poll: King Vidor
Posted: Tue Jun 18, 2019 3:04 pm
by flip
lencho - i'll just assume that you're not interested in nominating directors for now, but if you ever change your mind, feel free to suggest a director any time you post a ballot.
Re: SCFZ poll: King Vidor
Posted: Tue Jun 18, 2019 3:36 pm
by Roscoe
THE CROWD
BARDELYS THE MAGNIFICENT
THE PATSY
THE BIG PARADE
Can we include his uncredited sepia-tinted Kansas scenes work on THE WIZARD OF OZ (especially "Over The Rainbow" one of the glories of American art)?
Re: SCFZ poll: King Vidor
Posted: Tue Jun 18, 2019 4:56 pm
by ---
Seen 4, kbaiiiii
Re: SCFZ poll: King Vidor
Posted: Tue Jun 18, 2019 6:09 pm
by pabs
I've only seen
Duel in the Sun, so I can't vote, but here's a little info I enjoyed reading by David Thomson from his book
Have You Seen...?
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Re: SCFZ poll: King Vidor
Posted: Tue Jun 18, 2019 6:38 pm
by rischka
scorsese famously talks about duel as his first hollywood memory. it made a lasting impression
agree peck is much better than i expected and easily the most beautiful person in the film
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jj's brownface is problematic ofc
Re: SCFZ poll: King Vidor
Posted: Tue Jun 18, 2019 6:58 pm
by Lencho of the Apes
flip wrote: ↑Tue Jun 18, 2019 3:04 pm
feel free
Will do. Maybe one of these days I''ll think of somebody.
Re: SCFZ poll: King Vidor
Posted: Tue Jun 18, 2019 7:27 pm
by ...
The "everything overdone" idea, a common enough argument made against Vidor, is interesting because it feels to me like Vidor is one of the few directors that really didn't bother to adapt to sound exactly, at least in the sense of paring down his visual language, as just keep with the same sort of elaborate visuals of the late silent era and add sound to it. The idea that sound should serve somehow as a substitute or ameliorate the imagery by being able to say what had to be shown in silents didn't seen to really take with Vidor like it did many other directors. He kept the elaborate visuals and shaped the sound to match, excess for excess. But many who liked that kind of fullness of effort in silents don't take to it in sound films nearly as much. I guess hearing renders too concrete the ideas and feelings that image only can suggest or something, but that isn't how I tend to think of it myself, so it's hard to say what bothers people exactly other than there being "too much".
Re: SCFZ poll: King Vidor
Posted: Tue Jun 18, 2019 8:18 pm
by eleanor
Absolutely gonna play catch up for this. I've seen 3 so far but I'm abstaining from voting for the time being
Re: SCFZ poll: King Vidor
Posted: Tue Jun 18, 2019 8:29 pm
by St. Gloede
Seen 23:
The Crowd
Street Scene
The Fountainhead
The Champ
Show People
Re: SCFZ poll: King Vidor
Posted: Tue Jun 18, 2019 8:32 pm
by St. Gloede
I am surprised no one else nominated The Fountainhead ... It is such a delicously ludicrous film, brilliantly directed, forceful and sexy performance and just all-around an experience to be remembered.
Re: SCFZ poll: King Vidor
Posted: Wed Jun 19, 2019 8:03 pm
by Caracortada
Seen 6. He directed some big historical dramas with great acting performances.
1. Duel in the Sun
2. Solomon and Sheba
3. War and Peace
Re: SCFZ poll: King Vidor
Posted: Wed Jun 19, 2019 8:30 pm
by oscarwerner
Seen 9. Not my favorite director, but very solid.
1-The Fountainhead (1949)
2- Beyond the Forest (1949)
3-Man Without a Star (1955)
4- Duel in the Sun (1946)-i know it`s a very funny bad movie, but i still remember it from my childhood. I liked G.Peck and western genre. Seems my love is similar to what Martin Scorsese said about this picture in documentary film about American cinema.
Re: SCFZ poll: King Vidor
Posted: Thu Jun 20, 2019 2:20 am
by Umbugbene
Seen 14, including The Wizard of Oz
1. The Wizard of Oz [conditional vote... reject it if you think it's inappropriate]
2. Wild Oranges
3. Bardelys the Magnificent
Re: SCFZ poll: King Vidor
Posted: Thu Jun 20, 2019 2:39 am
by flip
Roscoe wrote: ↑Tue Jun 18, 2019 3:36 pm
Can we include his uncredited sepia-tinted Kansas scenes work on THE WIZARD OF OZ (especially "Over The Rainbow" one of the glories of American art)?
my general rule has always been (and probably always will be, unless people start voting for robocop in a tarkovsky poll) - voters can decide what they think counts and what they think doesn't. i haven't seen the wizard of oz since i was a kid, and don't know what vidor did for it, but if it people think it belongs in this poll, i'll count their votes.
at the same time, it would be a bit weird if the top-ranked film in our poll was something vidor wasn't even credited on. maybe vidor did a lot on the wizard, i don't know anything about it, but hopefully people will take into account the size of his contribution to the film.
Re: SCFZ poll: King Vidor
Posted: Thu Jun 20, 2019 10:56 am
by Umbugbene
According to the IMDb he only contributed to the Kansas scenes. Of course they're an essential part of the movie, but I don't know whether I think my vote for Oz is fair. I'm not super-enthusiastic about any other films he made.
Re: SCFZ poll: King Vidor
Posted: Thu Jun 20, 2019 12:55 pm
by Mysterious Dude
I've seen 14.
1. Hallelujah
2. The Big Parade
3. Street Scene
4. The Crowd
5. Bardelys the Magnificent
Re: SCFZ poll: King Vidor
Posted: Thu Jun 20, 2019 1:06 pm
by Roscoe
flip wrote: ↑Thu Jun 20, 2019 2:39 am
my general rule has always been (and probably always will be, unless people start voting for robocop in a tarkovsky poll) - voters can decide what they think counts and what they think doesn't. i haven't seen the wizard of oz since i was a kid, and don't know what vidor did for it, but if it people think it belongs in this poll, i'll count their votes.
at the same time, it would be a bit weird if the top-ranked film in our poll was something vidor wasn't even credited on. maybe vidor did a lot on the wizard, i don't know anything about it, but hopefully people will take into account the size of his contribution to the film.
Fair enough. Not sure what I'll do.
Re: SCFZ poll: King Vidor
Posted: Thu Jun 20, 2019 1:10 pm
by flip
mysterious dude - you can pick the director we poll next if you want!
Re: SCFZ poll: King Vidor
Posted: Thu Jun 20, 2019 3:37 pm
by Mysterious Dude
flip wrote: ↑Thu Jun 20, 2019 1:10 pm
mysterious dude - you can pick the director we poll next if you want!
How about F.W. Murnau? Might be a long shot -- I've only seen ten myself.
Re: SCFZ poll: King Vidor
Posted: Thu Jun 20, 2019 4:12 pm
by Umbugbene
I have 12 Murnaus. Good choice... hard to believe that wouldn't work.