Top 5s, Part II
Jan. 14th, 2006 04:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakFor ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
karabair:
Top Five Performances In Orson Welles movies by people who aren't Orson Welles
1) Dorothy Comingore in Citizen Kane. Her or Agnes Moorhead in her brief but memorable appearance as Kane's mother, but everyone raves about AM anyway, so I'm going with the woman who played Susan Alexander, the "singer". Poor Susie. In over her head, humiliated to the nth degree by her husband's insistence of making her into a star for his ego's sake, and ending as a drunk in a nightclub. Favourite Susan moments: the puzzle, of course, but also the moment after her peformance which is greeted with dead silence and then Kane claps and claps, and Susan flinches, and the claps come across almost as a violation. And her reaction when the reporter says he still can't help feeling sorry for Mr. Kane. The look when she says "don't you think I do?"
2) Romy Schneider in The Trial. This was post-Sissi and before the French film industry showed us Our Romy could do so much more, so Orson was taking a risk in casting her as Leni, but it paid off. No one thinks of Sissi when watching her. She gets the lazy sexuality just right, and her scenes with Anthony Perkins as Joseph K and with Welles himself as the Judge rock.
3) Marlene Dietrich in Touch of Evil. He wrote the role especially for her (it's brief enough he could have written it out again if he hadn't gotten her), didn't tell her anything about it, just to show up in gypsy make-up and didn't tell the studio she'd be in the film until they saw the daily rushes. Tanya the fortune teller and brothel keeper is riveting, and her past with Quinlan (Welles) is something that's conveyed just with a few lines of dialogue and Dietrich playing off Welles. And she gets the film's most quoted lines, one in reply to Quinlan's/Welles' question about his future ("You haven't got any. Your future's all used up") and the epitaph ("He was some kind of a man. What does it matter what you say about people?"), which live from Dietrich's delivery.
4) Micheál MacLiammóir in Othello. Not the best Jago on film (Parker's Othello is a far worse movie, but Kenneth Branagh is a better Jago), but excellent. Malignant, enigmatic, and never over the top. Welles had an interesting relationship with MacLiammóir (who together with his partner Hilton Edwards got presented with the sixteen years old Orson cheekily auditioning for their theatre in Dublin, and didn't stop being fascinated, amused and appalled ever since), which makes for an equally interesting subtext here.
5) Keith Baxter in Chimes at Midnight. Speaking of Kenneth Branagh, his Falstaff flashback and the battle in the mud in his versionHenry V are a clear homage to Chimes at Midnight. But both Branagh and Olivier (along with Will Shakespeare of course) see Henry as a positive figure. Welles sees Hal, and Baxter plays him, as kind of complicated monster Charlie Kane is. Male friendship and its betrayal is an ongoing theme in Welles oeuvre (Kane and Leland, Othello and Jago, Quinlan and Holt, and if you include the most famous movie Welles didn't direct, Holly and Harry in The Third Man), but in Chimes at Midnight, it's distilled in its pure form. Baxter handles the "I know thee not, old man" scene just right, and its inevitable cruelty stabs the heart.
Forbwinter:
Top Five Babylon 5 Episodes
1) Chrysalis. The season 1 finale and, with the exception of the very last episode of the show, my favourite season finale in general. All the various arcs - Earth politics, the Santiago asassination, Sinclair's missing hours, the endeavour Delenn has been steeling herself for the entire season, the Narn-Centauri feud, all comes to a head, and as G'Kar refuses Sinclair's attempt to reach a compromise and Londo asks Morden for a favour for the first time, to quote Sinclair, "everything changes". Many stunning scenes - Garibaldi being shot in the back, Earth Force One exploding, Lennier's stricken face as he guards Delenn's cocoon, Londo in the labyrinth. Oh, and a first Shadow sighting. Love it.
2) The Coming of Shadows. (Season 2, aka the one that won the Hugo.) A no-brainer of a choice. If I absolutely have to choose, this would be my pick for best episode of the show or at least best episode to showcase all the show's strengths. Political drama in high gear, tragedy, irony, and top notch performances from everyone. Peter Jurasik and Andreas Katsulas most of all, of course, but watch Stephen Furst in all the Londo and Refa scenes. He conveys Vir's increasing desperation as he watches Londo go down that path beautifully, and his impassioned pleading to Londo - "don't do this" is just fantastic. So many crucial scenes here - G'Kar offering Londo that drink, Londo's awareness of what just happened (and that G'Kar doesn't know), G'Kar's breakdown in front of Londo's quarters when Sheridan asks him whether he wants revenge or to help his people, and for the first time on screen, Londo's death dream and surrounding events.
3) Dust To Dust. (Season 3, in tough competition with Interludes and Examinations and season 4's The Long Night. Also, if War Without End weren't a two parter, I'd pick that, but it is.) Again, pivotal moment for Londo and G'Kar (do I detect a theme here?), but that's not the only reason why I choose this one. It also offers a turning point in the way the show uses Bester. Whose earlier two appearances were basically "Bester comes to the station, does the villain thing of making trouble for our heroes, gets defeated and leaves again". This time, things are a liiiittle bit more complicated, he actually gets what he wants, the interaction between him and Garibaldi is fab, and it's impossible to hear his "we must do this again sometimes" to Garibaldi without feeling pleasantly chilled once one has seen the entire show. But I admit it: the Bester plot alone wouldn't have made me choose the episode. It's G'Kar hitting rock bottom, mind-raping Londo and having his grand epiphany, with a little help from Kosh. And it's that marvellous example of Londo being able to make the audience want to slap him and hug him within the space of a few minutes. Excellent Vir, too.
4) The Fall of Centauri Prime. Season 5. Aka where all this has been leading to. Am still unable to watch it without crying my heart out. And yet it's a work of beauty. From Londo saving G'Kar in the beginning even as his world and all he holds dear is crumbling around him to Londo accepting the Keeper to save his people, it just leaves me whimpering in the most undignified way. Oh, and it's a testament to Bill Mumy and Mira Furlan that the Lennier and Delenn subplot manages to hold my interest enough to never fast forward.
5) Sleeping in Light. The quiet final note in the symphony that was Babylon 5. Not much happens in this epilogue to the show, set 20 years after; Sheridan feels his death approaching, meets with his old friends the last time, goes off to die, while the station, which has become redundant, gets destroyed; and yet it holds your attention more than many an action-heavy episode from earlier seasons. Well, unless you belong to the contingent of fandom which is disgruntled B5 didn't get destroyed in a battle as Sinclair's season 1 flashforward seemed to indicate - I remember there was a controversy at the time. Count me among the contingent who loves the gentle way to that good night. High point to me is the dinner with the toast to absent friends, bringing together both those who survived and managed to achieve a more or less happy life, and those who were lost on the way, and details such as Emperor!Vir in bed with two women make me smile each time (a middle-aged Centauri is the first person to get laid on this show, a middle-aged Centauri is the last person to get laid on this show!) but of course the final two scenes are where I lose it entirely, as JMS literary puts out the lights of the station, it ends, and we hear Ivanova's voice over. "It was the last of the Babylon stations. There never was another."
Foraltariel1:
Top 5 Exploits of Quark not related on screen.
1) Everyone's A Critic: Quark's time as ship's cook on a Marauder taught him many things; including cooking, which he certainly didn't learn at home. He was so desperate to get away from Ferenginar and Moogie that he successfully bluffed his way on a ship. This resulted in the crew wanting to kill him early on as they found out he didn't even know how to programm the replicator correctly. He never talked so fast in his life. And did learn to programm, and to cook. Most importantly, though, he learned the importance of distraction. No one minded his less than stellar cooking skills once he offered them the opportunity to watch Vulcan Love Slave or My Andorian Pet while they were consuming his food.
2) That Bar Is Mine: He won it in a game of chance, of course. The previous owner was some Cardassian whom Dukat had more or less ordered to take the job and who constantly got cheated even by Bajoran collaborators when it came to organizing food supplies and kanar, so Quark didn't have that tough a time to defeat the guy in a game of cards, but that was only half the work. He also had to convince Dukat a Ferengi barkeep of uncertain loyalties was the best idea ever. A less clever man would have tried to bribe Dukat. Quark organized a present for Dukat's current mistress and several for his children at home instead, and had his bar.
3) Here's Looking To You, Natima: Or, how Quark won her heart. Now Cardassian/Bajoran liasons, with the Cardassians in question being soldiers weren't unusual. But for a Cardassian lady to fall for a Ferengi was unheard of. Yes, she was impressed by him selling food to Bajoran refugees at price, but what really won her around was that he made her laugh with him (as opposed to about him, which of course many a Cardassian officer did) in a dark, dark time when she felt increasingly guilty about her people's actions.
4) The Constable, His Lover And His Mother: Or, Quark and the Female Founder. Who showed up in his bar after starting with the constant Odo linking. Somehow, she must have gotten the impression he was of significance to Odo, and thus worthy of examination. This was just after another Kira-Jake-Rom conspiracy meeting, and Quark never was as nervous in his life, but he kept his head, regaling the Female Founder with stories about Odo's early years from his perspective and with unasked advice on how to keep Odo's interest until she beat a dignified retreat and never was seen in his bar again.
5) ...But The Stars Are Made Of Latinum: it would be vile slander to claim Quark was sentimental about a certain Changeling. He simply recognized an opportunity when he saw it. To wit: with the Dominion War over, trade with the Gamma Quadrant could flourish again. And who better to claim a monopoly not just on tula berries but all sorts of Gamma Quadrant import than the Ferengi who could say that if you didn't accept his conditions his buddy the new ruler of the Dominion would kick your behind? Of course, once this news reached the Great Link Odo was furious, separated and hunted down Quark for a shouting match. Quark had rarely been as happy in his life. He even let Odo believe Odo had properly chastised him by the time Odo departed, never mind the fact he kept holo recordings of Odo striding in his bar and shaking his shoulders - which looked suspiciously like a hug - thus proving their closeness to his new Gamma Quadrant clients...
karabair: Top Five Performances In Orson Welles movies by people who aren't Orson Welles
1) Dorothy Comingore in Citizen Kane. Her or Agnes Moorhead in her brief but memorable appearance as Kane's mother, but everyone raves about AM anyway, so I'm going with the woman who played Susan Alexander, the "singer". Poor Susie. In over her head, humiliated to the nth degree by her husband's insistence of making her into a star for his ego's sake, and ending as a drunk in a nightclub. Favourite Susan moments: the puzzle, of course, but also the moment after her peformance which is greeted with dead silence and then Kane claps and claps, and Susan flinches, and the claps come across almost as a violation. And her reaction when the reporter says he still can't help feeling sorry for Mr. Kane. The look when she says "don't you think I do?"
2) Romy Schneider in The Trial. This was post-Sissi and before the French film industry showed us Our Romy could do so much more, so Orson was taking a risk in casting her as Leni, but it paid off. No one thinks of Sissi when watching her. She gets the lazy sexuality just right, and her scenes with Anthony Perkins as Joseph K and with Welles himself as the Judge rock.
3) Marlene Dietrich in Touch of Evil. He wrote the role especially for her (it's brief enough he could have written it out again if he hadn't gotten her), didn't tell her anything about it, just to show up in gypsy make-up and didn't tell the studio she'd be in the film until they saw the daily rushes. Tanya the fortune teller and brothel keeper is riveting, and her past with Quinlan (Welles) is something that's conveyed just with a few lines of dialogue and Dietrich playing off Welles. And she gets the film's most quoted lines, one in reply to Quinlan's/Welles' question about his future ("You haven't got any. Your future's all used up") and the epitaph ("He was some kind of a man. What does it matter what you say about people?"), which live from Dietrich's delivery.
4) Micheál MacLiammóir in Othello. Not the best Jago on film (Parker's Othello is a far worse movie, but Kenneth Branagh is a better Jago), but excellent. Malignant, enigmatic, and never over the top. Welles had an interesting relationship with MacLiammóir (who together with his partner Hilton Edwards got presented with the sixteen years old Orson cheekily auditioning for their theatre in Dublin, and didn't stop being fascinated, amused and appalled ever since), which makes for an equally interesting subtext here.
5) Keith Baxter in Chimes at Midnight. Speaking of Kenneth Branagh, his Falstaff flashback and the battle in the mud in his versionHenry V are a clear homage to Chimes at Midnight. But both Branagh and Olivier (along with Will Shakespeare of course) see Henry as a positive figure. Welles sees Hal, and Baxter plays him, as kind of complicated monster Charlie Kane is. Male friendship and its betrayal is an ongoing theme in Welles oeuvre (Kane and Leland, Othello and Jago, Quinlan and Holt, and if you include the most famous movie Welles didn't direct, Holly and Harry in The Third Man), but in Chimes at Midnight, it's distilled in its pure form. Baxter handles the "I know thee not, old man" scene just right, and its inevitable cruelty stabs the heart.
For
bwinter: Top Five Babylon 5 Episodes
1) Chrysalis. The season 1 finale and, with the exception of the very last episode of the show, my favourite season finale in general. All the various arcs - Earth politics, the Santiago asassination, Sinclair's missing hours, the endeavour Delenn has been steeling herself for the entire season, the Narn-Centauri feud, all comes to a head, and as G'Kar refuses Sinclair's attempt to reach a compromise and Londo asks Morden for a favour for the first time, to quote Sinclair, "everything changes". Many stunning scenes - Garibaldi being shot in the back, Earth Force One exploding, Lennier's stricken face as he guards Delenn's cocoon, Londo in the labyrinth. Oh, and a first Shadow sighting. Love it.
2) The Coming of Shadows. (Season 2, aka the one that won the Hugo.) A no-brainer of a choice. If I absolutely have to choose, this would be my pick for best episode of the show or at least best episode to showcase all the show's strengths. Political drama in high gear, tragedy, irony, and top notch performances from everyone. Peter Jurasik and Andreas Katsulas most of all, of course, but watch Stephen Furst in all the Londo and Refa scenes. He conveys Vir's increasing desperation as he watches Londo go down that path beautifully, and his impassioned pleading to Londo - "don't do this" is just fantastic. So many crucial scenes here - G'Kar offering Londo that drink, Londo's awareness of what just happened (and that G'Kar doesn't know), G'Kar's breakdown in front of Londo's quarters when Sheridan asks him whether he wants revenge or to help his people, and for the first time on screen, Londo's death dream and surrounding events.
3) Dust To Dust. (Season 3, in tough competition with Interludes and Examinations and season 4's The Long Night. Also, if War Without End weren't a two parter, I'd pick that, but it is.) Again, pivotal moment for Londo and G'Kar (do I detect a theme here?), but that's not the only reason why I choose this one. It also offers a turning point in the way the show uses Bester. Whose earlier two appearances were basically "Bester comes to the station, does the villain thing of making trouble for our heroes, gets defeated and leaves again". This time, things are a liiiittle bit more complicated, he actually gets what he wants, the interaction between him and Garibaldi is fab, and it's impossible to hear his "we must do this again sometimes" to Garibaldi without feeling pleasantly chilled once one has seen the entire show. But I admit it: the Bester plot alone wouldn't have made me choose the episode. It's G'Kar hitting rock bottom, mind-raping Londo and having his grand epiphany, with a little help from Kosh. And it's that marvellous example of Londo being able to make the audience want to slap him and hug him within the space of a few minutes. Excellent Vir, too.
4) The Fall of Centauri Prime. Season 5. Aka where all this has been leading to. Am still unable to watch it without crying my heart out. And yet it's a work of beauty. From Londo saving G'Kar in the beginning even as his world and all he holds dear is crumbling around him to Londo accepting the Keeper to save his people, it just leaves me whimpering in the most undignified way. Oh, and it's a testament to Bill Mumy and Mira Furlan that the Lennier and Delenn subplot manages to hold my interest enough to never fast forward.
5) Sleeping in Light. The quiet final note in the symphony that was Babylon 5. Not much happens in this epilogue to the show, set 20 years after; Sheridan feels his death approaching, meets with his old friends the last time, goes off to die, while the station, which has become redundant, gets destroyed; and yet it holds your attention more than many an action-heavy episode from earlier seasons. Well, unless you belong to the contingent of fandom which is disgruntled B5 didn't get destroyed in a battle as Sinclair's season 1 flashforward seemed to indicate - I remember there was a controversy at the time. Count me among the contingent who loves the gentle way to that good night. High point to me is the dinner with the toast to absent friends, bringing together both those who survived and managed to achieve a more or less happy life, and those who were lost on the way, and details such as Emperor!Vir in bed with two women make me smile each time (a middle-aged Centauri is the first person to get laid on this show, a middle-aged Centauri is the last person to get laid on this show!) but of course the final two scenes are where I lose it entirely, as JMS literary puts out the lights of the station, it ends, and we hear Ivanova's voice over. "It was the last of the Babylon stations. There never was another."
For
altariel1: Top 5 Exploits of Quark not related on screen.
1) Everyone's A Critic: Quark's time as ship's cook on a Marauder taught him many things; including cooking, which he certainly didn't learn at home. He was so desperate to get away from Ferenginar and Moogie that he successfully bluffed his way on a ship. This resulted in the crew wanting to kill him early on as they found out he didn't even know how to programm the replicator correctly. He never talked so fast in his life. And did learn to programm, and to cook. Most importantly, though, he learned the importance of distraction. No one minded his less than stellar cooking skills once he offered them the opportunity to watch Vulcan Love Slave or My Andorian Pet while they were consuming his food.
2) That Bar Is Mine: He won it in a game of chance, of course. The previous owner was some Cardassian whom Dukat had more or less ordered to take the job and who constantly got cheated even by Bajoran collaborators when it came to organizing food supplies and kanar, so Quark didn't have that tough a time to defeat the guy in a game of cards, but that was only half the work. He also had to convince Dukat a Ferengi barkeep of uncertain loyalties was the best idea ever. A less clever man would have tried to bribe Dukat. Quark organized a present for Dukat's current mistress and several for his children at home instead, and had his bar.
3) Here's Looking To You, Natima: Or, how Quark won her heart. Now Cardassian/Bajoran liasons, with the Cardassians in question being soldiers weren't unusual. But for a Cardassian lady to fall for a Ferengi was unheard of. Yes, she was impressed by him selling food to Bajoran refugees at price, but what really won her around was that he made her laugh with him (as opposed to about him, which of course many a Cardassian officer did) in a dark, dark time when she felt increasingly guilty about her people's actions.
4) The Constable, His Lover And His Mother: Or, Quark and the Female Founder. Who showed up in his bar after starting with the constant Odo linking. Somehow, she must have gotten the impression he was of significance to Odo, and thus worthy of examination. This was just after another Kira-Jake-Rom conspiracy meeting, and Quark never was as nervous in his life, but he kept his head, regaling the Female Founder with stories about Odo's early years from his perspective and with unasked advice on how to keep Odo's interest until she beat a dignified retreat and never was seen in his bar again.
5) ...But The Stars Are Made Of Latinum: it would be vile slander to claim Quark was sentimental about a certain Changeling. He simply recognized an opportunity when he saw it. To wit: with the Dominion War over, trade with the Gamma Quadrant could flourish again. And who better to claim a monopoly not just on tula berries but all sorts of Gamma Quadrant import than the Ferengi who could say that if you didn't accept his conditions his buddy the new ruler of the Dominion would kick your behind? Of course, once this news reached the Great Link Odo was furious, separated and hunted down Quark for a shouting match. Quark had rarely been as happy in his life. He even let Odo believe Odo had properly chastised him by the time Odo departed, never mind the fact he kept holo recordings of Odo striding in his bar and shaking his shoulders - which looked suspiciously like a hug - thus proving their closeness to his new Gamma Quadrant clients...
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-01-14 04:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-14 04:25 pm (UTC)Thank you.
no subject
Date: 2006-01-14 05:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-14 07:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-14 07:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-14 07:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-14 08:23 pm (UTC)I'm not sure I even knew that was Dietrich in Touch of Evil (it's been a while), though I'm sure I should have! I haven't seen The Trial, is that from the Kafka?
no subject
Date: 2006-01-14 09:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-14 11:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-15 05:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-15 06:12 am (UTC)Kane/Leland and Hal/Falstaff aren't a parallel in identities, and certainly not in the OW role - Hal is more like Kane if anything, and yet it's Leland who does the rejecting - but like I said, male affection and emotional betrayal and rejection are an ongoing theme with Orson.
If you like, you can drag in the biographical background: his father was an alcoholic and an extrovert and great with the self destruction, and as a teenager of 14, Welles told him he didn't want to see him again, and Richard W. promptly went off and died a couple of months later. For the rest of his life, OW was absolutely convinced he had killed his father. He was obsessed with Falstaff and played him for the first time when he was 21. Make of that what you will
(And also of his tendency to befriend older self-destructive men like Housman and Mankiewicz, first charm them and then and have spectacular fallouts with them.)
no subject
Date: 2006-01-15 07:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-15 06:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-15 07:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-16 11:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-16 01:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-16 05:25 pm (UTC)It exasperates me that the writers don't seem to see how flighty lovers-of-the-week make their regulars look, even ones who aren't supposed to be flighty. I'm not sure quite where Jadzia falls on that scale; less so than Curzon, probably more so than Ezri.
no subject
Date: 2006-01-16 05:38 pm (UTC)On the other hand, suddenly have someone show up and have Jadzia declare this was the love of her life (tm) and then forget about him in the next episode was just bad characterisation. In the best Kirk tradition, I suppose.
I did appreciate that Lenara the Ex-wife was mentioned again in dialogue a couple of times in the later seasons.
no subject
Date: 2006-01-17 09:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-17 10:06 pm (UTC)