tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21463545.post4700470144529321908..comments2024-03-25T15:38:16.880-07:00Comments on Surrender to the Void: Giant (1956 film)thevoid99http://www.blogger.com/profile/03055459287396592446noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21463545.post-90826574893610057532017-01-26T22:08:40.214-08:002017-01-26T22:08:40.214-08:00@joel65913-Thank you. I look forward to seeing th...@joel65913-Thank you. I look forward to seeing those 2 films.thevoid99https://www.blogger.com/profile/03055459287396592446noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21463545.post-26067679940621454812017-01-26T18:48:06.158-08:002017-01-26T18:48:06.158-08:00Rebel is iconic and venerated and it is a very goo...Rebel is iconic and venerated and it is a very good film with excellent work by Dean, Natalie Wood and Sal Mineo but I think the best Dean ever was is in East of Eden. <br /><br />Now I might be predisposed to the film since it's based on the second half of my all-time favorite book. The Jane Seymour mini-series from the 80's covers the entire book and is so worth seeing, it contains Jane's career best work. <br /><br />Be that as it may the 50's Dean version is extraordinary and like Rebel has an amazing cast beside him. Julie Harris, Raymond Massey and Jo Van Fleet are the standouts but there isn't a bad performance in the bunch.<br /><br />You got some great viewing ahead! joel65913https://www.blogger.com/profile/14526657073681774683noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21463545.post-59703631063564536922017-01-26T15:51:17.103-08:002017-01-26T15:51:17.103-08:00I would love to see the film in the big screen no ...I would love to see the film in the big screen no matter how flawed it is. Mercedes McCambridge is awesome in the film as I did kind of what more from her. I think Elizabeth Taylor is perfect for Leslie as I just liked how humble the character is as well as be more open to new things. I hope to watch more films that she starred in as she was just great in this.<br /><br />I've only seen 2 films starring James Dean as the other is a very small role in <i>Fixed Bayonets!</i> by Samuel Fuller as I do have <i>East of Eden</i> in my DVR hard drive as I hope to do that and <i>Rebel Without a Cause</i>.thevoid99https://www.blogger.com/profile/03055459287396592446noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21463545.post-4327621816461589332017-01-26T13:32:39.148-08:002017-01-26T13:32:39.148-08:00This is one of the films I've regretted not be...This is one of the films I've regretted not being able to view in a theatre. It's just made for that. A bitter pill was that I almost had a chance to do just that once when I was visiting friends in LA, it was supposed to play in a big revival theatre there and they had problems with the print and had to delay for a couple of days which turned out to be two days after I'd flown home! Sigh.<br /><br />Anyway this is a sprawling epic with all those pluses you pointed out. Having read the Edna Ferber novel that was its basis it's a very solid adaptation and fills in the characters as well as it could in the transition from page to screen. <br /><br />The real standout in support is Mercedes McCambridge as Luz. She informs so much of who her character is in a short time though the true tension between Leslie and she was muted. They truly detested each other in the book though they covered it around Bick. To the point that after Luz's death Leslie refused Bick's request to name their new daughter after her choosing Carola instead but he ignored that and everyone, including eventually Leslie, called her Luz anyway. <br /><br />I like Dean in the film but of his three big performances this is the lesser. He's terrific in the early scenes, brooding and effortlessly sexual, and his interaction with both Hudson and Taylor exactly right for the relationships but in the later scenes as an aged man he struggles with conveying the thrust of the character. I realize that might be somewhat of a compromise on Stevens part since he had to work with the available footage he had being as Dean was killed in that accident before principle shooting was completed.<br /><br />But he's really a side character to Bick and Leslie so you need two people who hold your interest for the long haul and who connect with each other and Elizabeth Taylor and Rock Hudson do that with ease. Hudson was cast first and Stevens offered his choice of Taylor or Grace Kelly and like Grace though I do she would have been so very wrong for the part. Leslie needed Liz's grounded earthiness to push through her ability to wrought the changes she finally manages to make in Bick. This came during her most fertile period of stardom and I think it's some of her best work. Same goes for Rock, he felt so too along with Seconds.joel65913https://www.blogger.com/profile/14526657073681774683noreply@blogger.com