SCFZ poll: Joseph Mankiewicz

[flip]

Polling the films of director Joseph Mankiewicz

The rules:

- your list can include no more than half of the Mankiewicz 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 Friday, in seven days, whatever day that is

- if anyone is watching films for these polls, then i'll extend the deadline up to 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: greg x, wba, greennui, umbugbene

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

[flip]

5 Fingers
House of Strangers
Escape
All About Eve
The Late George Apley

seen 11, find his filmography very uneven overall

[ofrene]

seen only 2

The Ghost and Mrs. Muir

[mesnalty]

I've seen 3 and will boringly vote for

1. All About Eve

[Curtis, baby]

Sleuth
All About Eve

seen 5

[brian d]

seen 3, s'pose i'll go with

sleuth

[Umbugbene]

Seen 13

1. All About Eve
2. Letter to Three Wives
3. 5 Fingers
4. People Will Talk
5. Somewhere in the Night

With Irm Hermann's recent death I thought about The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, and how Petra, out of the blue, dictates a letter to Joseph Mankiewicz telling him she won't be paying him back anytime soon. I believe that scene is Fassbinder acknowledging his own debt to Mankiewicz... after all the story has a basic similarity to All About Eve.

A lot of people notice Mankiewicz's way with words and his ability to get great performances. But he also deserves credit for his extraordinary understanding of human motivation.

It's a shame I couldn't include The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, but it'll probably get enough votes.

[MrCarmady]

Seen 3.

The Ghost and Mrs Muir.

The other two are great as well (Sleuth and All About Eve), should beef up my list a bit based on that.

[Holymanm]

I have no idea who this fellow is, but apparently I've seen three of his pitchers!

1. Somewhere in the Night

Seen 3

[FLABREZU]

Sleuth

[Evelyn Library P.I.]

Seen 4.

1. The Ghost and Mrs. Muir
2. No Way Out

[Roscoe]

THE GHOST AND MRS. MUIR
ALL ABOUT EVE

I like SLEUTH well enough, but can't quite vote for it as being "best." LETTER TO THREE WIVES, well, okay.

[St. Gloede]

Seen 15, shocked he was not chosen prior, he was one of my major interests when I first got into film, though I never got around to Guys and Dolls and Cleopatra.

Suddenly, Last Summer
Sleuth
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir
No Way Out
5 Fingers

[greennui]

6.

Guys and Dolls
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir
Suddenly, Last Summer

[wba]

seen 3 didn't like any of them. It's been a long long long time though (last one 20 years ago?).

[...]

I'm sure I've made my views of Mankiewicz known before, finding his movies thematically to be more than a bit miscogynistic, crudely put, men manipulate events, women manipulate men, somewhat mitigated in effect by Mankiewicz's actor focused directing, with the occasional more elaborate flourish to sell the themes. He's made some daring casting choices, like Darrieux as something of a double agent, though more just in it for herself, in 5 Fingers, as Darrieux had a tangled history with Nazi involvement in occupied France, and Audie Murphy in The Quiet American, given his Medal of Honor and persona fit to the story, pared down to being more suggestive than explicit in the film perhaps. Mankiewicz had enough talent that his films are generally interesting for all those things, but aren't really movies I can give stronger support to than mild fascination. I've seen 16 and will try to see at least a couple more before the deadline, The Late George Appley, maybe The Honeypot if I can stomach it, and possibly a couple he wrote but didn't direct just to better understand his dual roles as writer/director.

For now:

The Quiet American
All About Eve
Suddenly, Last Summer
5 Fingers
Cleopatra or The Barefoot Contessa

[nrh]

the honeypot
the ghost and mrs muir
the barefoot contessa

very odd filmmaker. seen enough to rate more.

[oscarwerner]

seen 17. My votes are:
1. All About Eve (1950)
2. Suddenly, Last Summer (1959)
3. Julius Caesar (1953)
4. The Quiet American (1958)
5. Cleopatra (1963)

[flip]

seen only 2

ofrene, you can choose our next director if you like!

[ofrene]

choose our next director

wonder we can do Jodie Mack(seen 12), Shirley Clarke(seen 16, all shorts), or Barbara Hammer(seen 22, all shorts)

fallback is David Lean. seen only 3 but I can’t recall other name now..

[Umbugbene]

I have 23 Mack, 15 Lean, and 0 Clarke or Hammer. Kind of surprised we haven't polled Lean yet, but it's true.

[Evelyn Library P.I.]

Seen 22 by Mack. Just 1 by Clarke, 4 by Hammer.

[greennui]

5 Mack, 10 Clarke, 10 Hammer

6 Lean

[flip]

jodie mack clearly works, so i'll start that poll today!

[mesnalty]

Yay Mack! (I've seen 13 Clarkes too, for future reference.)

[flip]

(I've seen 13 Clarkes too, for future reference.)

that means clarke will work for sure too (as long as the same members are still around), a fact i'll probably forget, so if someone nominates clarke later on and can remember to remind me we don't need to check views, that would be great!

[john ryan]

seen 14

1. all about eve
2. the barefoot contessa
3. suddenly, last summer
4. cleopatra
5. a letter to three wives

[Caracortada]

Seen 13

1. All About Eve
2. Sleuth
3. Cleopatra
4. The Ghost and Mrs. Muir
5. Dragonwyck

He directed some monumental leading roles.

[Caracortada]

I'm sure I've made my views of Mankiewicz known before, finding his movies thematically to be more than a bit miscogynistic, crudely put, men manipulate events, women manipulate men, somewhat mitigated in effect by Mankiewicz's actor focused directing, with the occasional more elaborate flourish to sell the themes. He's made some daring casting choices, like Darrieux as something of a double agent, though more just in it for herself, in 5 Fingers, as Darrieux had a tangled history with Nazi involvement in occupied France, and Audie Murphy in The Quiet American, given his Medal of Honor and persona fit to the story, pared down to being more suggestive than explicit in the film perhaps. Mankiewicz had enough talent that his films are generally interesting for all those things, but aren't really movies I can give stronger support to than mild fascination. I've seen 16 and will try to see at least a couple more before the deadline, The Late George Appley, maybe The Honeypot if I can stomach it, and possibly a couple he wrote but didn't direct just to better understand his dual roles as writer/director.

It's absurd to call him misogynistic after he directed those great female leading roles. Misogynistic are films where the women are only there to ne bumped off or to be saved by the male hero. Mankiewicz did the opposite of that.

The Quiet American is one of his weakest films to me, because Graham Greene's criticism of American politics was omitted, and the communists were blamed for everything. The 2002 version is much closer to the novel.

[ralch]

All About Eve
A Letter to Three Wives