Michael Caine - Top 5 films: Alfie (1966); The Italian Job (1969); Sleuth (1972); Dressed to Kill (1980); Hannah and Her Sisters (1986); Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988); The Quiet American (2002)....yes, I know thats 7!!!

Faraaj...okay i concede..
my personal favorite is " wilby conspiracy"...kind of funny and ironic film. and offlate, i loved him in Second hand lions and The prestige...Amazing how the actors age with grace and aplombe..unlike people in India..who still want to play the Hero running around trees even in their fifties...
here is one more british Actor..excellent and well acclaimed, am sure you will return with vengeance..

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Who is this European actor?

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Oops...crossed lines....haven't seen Wilby Conspiracy or heard of it. In more recent roles, like Prestige etc., he has maintained his consistently high standards but those roles have tended to be cameos or supporting roles. Take the recent Batman films as an example.

This is a pic of Sir Alec Guiness aka Obi Wan Kenobi, star of the Ealing comedies and put to excellent use in so many David Lean films. Truly a great actor. Now guess mine in the above post!

Faraaj..is it Rutger Hauer ???
Have seen him in only one film..The lady hawk. some fantasy thriller starring Michelle Pfiffer..
Btw..yes it is Alec guinness...

Rutger Hauer indeed....a Dutch actor - he appeared in two Dutch classics in the 70s Soldaat Van Oranje and Turks Fruit. Turks Fruit, which is quite explicit, should be available. In the US, he made two genre greats. The first was Blade Runner, a magnificent sci-fi. Do watch the directors cut. This is a neo-noir sci-fi with brilliant visuals and great direction by Ridley Scott. The second was The Hitcher. He is actually most famous for his role as the sick, twisted hitcher who hitchhikes rides on the freeway and tortures/murders his victims for no apparent motive. Its an edge of your seat thriller and he is truly menacing in it.....since then, his output has been pretty ordinary....

Here is one more..an actor who needs no introduction...
I enjoyed reading his auto-biography...


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Reading David Niven's two books - The Moon's a Balloon and Bring On the Empty Horses was a joy. I was never a fan of Niven the actor. But after reading those two books, I really began to like him. He had an amazing sense of humour and was a born writer and raconteur. I've literally read hundreds of bio's and books on cinema. His two books are the best there are on cinema and among the very best bio's I've read. Highly recommended to anyone lucky enough not to have read them yet! You'll be holding your sides with laughter yet learning a great deal about a fascinating era.

Faraaj..YOU said it all I read only the first one..
Extremely readable..i normally dislike biographies, but this one was an exception. So does the other one i liked...Lee Iaccoca.

Here is one more actress of yesteryears.. an Oscar Winner !

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SF

There are only three films in 80+ years of Academy Awards to win all 4 top Oscars - Best Pic, Director, Lead Actor and Leading Actress. Those three undoubted classics were It Happened One Night (1934), One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) and Silence of the Lambs (1992).

Colbert starred in It Happened One Night, a film that started the genre of screwball comedy. It Happened has been remade probably a dozen times but none of the versions could touch it with a ten-foot pole. Two indian versions most HF'ers would be familiar with are Raj Kapoor's Chori Chori and Amir Khan's Dil Hai Ke Maanta Nahin. With It Happened... Clark Gable, who was given the film as a punishment, became the King of Hollywood. There is a scene in the film where he took off his shirt and lo and behold he wasn't wearing a vest underneath. The impact of that scene was felt by the undergarment industry for years with sales of vests falling over 60% in America!!! Those were real stars.....

The next most coveted Oscar is for Writing. All these three film got the award for Adapted Screenplay as well, making them the only films to win the Top 5.

Aditya

That is correct. But arguably an original screenplay is a notch above adapted screenplay. Quentin Tarantino has frequently made disparaging remarks about screenplay adapters!

Who is this sex-symbol from the 60s who made a brief comeback in the 60s? (I don't mean Elvis!)

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Ann Margret ! no prizes there...i just googled for Elvis !
never saw any of Elvis films either..have i missed something?? hope the king's fans wont bash me..
Btw...never seen freckles from such proximity.. here is downsized pic...


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SF

Elvis was a lousy actor appearing in lousy films in which his singing was the only plus. This is all because of his stupid manager - an ex Fauji!!! His manager Colonel Tom Parker insisted that Elvis not appear opposite any star or capable female because he would come out looking bad. Did you know the Defiant Ones was written for him and Sammy Davis. The good Colonel said no and the roles went to Tony Curtis and Poitier.

The only film where a halfway decent actress slipped through and starred opposite Elvis was Viva Las Vegas. The lady was Ann-Margret and the film is definitely Elvis's best. The mere fact that he was starring opposite a talented performer made him perform much better. I would suggest searching this film out. It has a lovely duet The Lady Loves Me and It Shows....beautiful song.

By the way, there was a wonderful ballad in It Happened... called The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze. These are rare songs and I have them both. Would love to upload them but don't think they are in the public domain so there could be issues with HF Admin.

Faraaj...that is wondeful info..
Would love to have the songs..can you mail to me please at your leisure? simplefable at gmail dot com?
I was too enthusiastic in the beginning and started to upload videos with wonderful dances...from my collection. Then came to know the risk am putting this forum on..and quit midway.
May be we can put them on youtube..and give out a link??

Here is one pic of the man who is a Comedian hailed as master of wit..

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SF

I'm sending you a personal email. I can't take the Youtube option because I'm based in Australia and the copyright law enforcement here could get me in trouble.

Is this a pic of Groucho in his old age? The man who refused to join a club who would accept people like him as members. Who claimed to have been in Hollywood so long he could remember Doris Day before she was a virgin!

Faraaj...yes, that is Groucho Marx..
I dont know about Doris day info.....
thanks a lot for the songs..

Here is one contemporary director..whom i respect a lot.
here are a few tips to identify him...

He employs non-linear storytelling techniques, often flipping around the three acts of a movie to tell the story in an interesting fashion....
His films usually revolve around characters that are afflicted with some kind of psychological disorder...
He hates CGI and never employed them in his films...

Would love to hear from you guys..


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SF

I would never have recognised the face. But the clues you gave immediately made me look up the classic neo-noir Memento (2000) and click on its director - who also made the brilliant top of genre Dark Knight (2008). He is undoubtedly a great auteur....

Faraaj...that is fast.
I strongly recommend you to see if you can get..."the following" which was directed by Nolan on a shoe string budget...it is a black and white film.. Am sure it will keep you rivetted.. I am no great fan of the batman..so never saw that film.

I'm no great super-hero fan. And of the superhero's Batman, to me, always looked the least interesting. But Nolan has created something really special in Dark Knight. Leave aside the hype and evaluate the film on its own merits and you have a work of art. I intend to see Nolan's pre Memento work as I do believe him to be one of a handful of genuine auteurs around.

Here is one more wonderful actor...
i saw him as a villain ..executing the role to a chilling effect in an Audrey hepburn film..
Secondly i saw him in a moving role as a deaf mute singer ..for which he was nominated for an oscar..ofcourse he did get that recently...as the picture shows..


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SF

Alan Arkin has appeared in two great films of the 90s. Glengarry Glenross is one of the top 10 films of the decade. Containing one of the greatest ensemble casts - Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Kevin Spacey, Arkin, Alec Baldwin, Ed Harris, Jonathan Pryce - it is a dizzling drama with dialogue that crackles. The film inhabits a truly mean and cruel world. The other great film of his that I saw was Gattaca, one of the most intelligent sci-fi films ever made.

I have, but have yet to see Wait Until Dark. I'm aware its a classic. I also have the book The Heart is a Lonely Hunter and its in my list of books to read sometime in the 21st century!!!

Who is he? The pic should make it obvious he's a comedian...

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Faraaj..that is great, the way you answer Qs with so much info..
I loved Alan Arkin in both the films which you havent seen..Wait until dark..and the heart is a lonely hunter..and missed out on Glengarry Glenross..I started seeing it once...Kind of who reaches the insurance target will keep the job..something like that..but was disturbed in the middle. I could never find that disk again..it hid among my colllection. Needless to say, am the worst manager. Never learnt the art of keeping my collection in a tidy way.

Never seen this guy...
Will go googling...............

Hint time:

1- Starred in a famous Broadway musical but when the film was made, he was controversially not cast.
2- Appeared in an iconic comedy. One of his classic insults to the lead character was to refer to him as "You fish faced enemy of the people".
3- He is of jewish persuasion.

Faraaj...thanks for the hints...
Zero Mostel...is the answer. Producers is the film where he starred..iconic comedy of Mel brooks...I havent seen him in any film..so was lost.

Here is one more from me..

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Is this an incredibly young Robert Wagner?

No...actually he played the famous Henry Higgins and Captain Von Tropp on stage...

The face (since its not Wagner) is not familiar. I need a film hint....

He starred in a epic disaster film of 1974 which had star studded cast. He further in later stages revealed that he is gay...and how difficult it was for him to hide that and be the perfect american teenage idol.

He denounced the glamor world of hollywood and turned to the stage...

Richard Chamberlain! I think you covered him a few weeks earlier as well and I couldn't guess him then either. Oh well, third time lucky.....

A famous actress, she directed one film though...(thought direction was a man's job)...

Faraaj..that is correct. did i cover him??? hmm...dont think so. Or may be i was suffering from " Ghazini" syndome !

here is one more..
A pocket sized dynamite..i love his style...


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Danny DeVito! SF Bhai this one too easy.

My Cousin Vinny....

Oops apologize
Blame it on my late night...

HT bhai..that is right.
Madhavi...do you mean Joe pesci??

Mary Pickford ?? The film she directed would be..Dorothy Vernon of Haddon hall. Where did you get this pic?? am still in doubt with my answer...


Here is one from me.... A second generation actor..and a highly decorated officer in WW II .


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Pic looks to be a silent era actress and there is something about the face which is slightly familar. But it doesn't look like Pickford to me. Even the Gish sisters directed a film each in the silent era.

Madhavi, need a hint...

It is not Pickford SF. Faraaj, you almost got it, no need for a hint. It is Lilian Gish. Have any of you seen the Griffith silents?

Hi Madhavi

It initially looked like Lillian Gish to me but when I compared the face to her IMDB pics, I thought not.

I have a few of the Griffith silents. I'm just put off by the fact that he was a racist and his depiction of the KKK in Birth of a Nation.....in silents, I really lean towards German cinema.....the bits and pieces I've seen apart from German were not so interesting....

Oh..i totally goofed out.
No, never saw any silent films other than.....the silent movie of Mel brooks. and ofcourse Chaplin.
hey.have you missed out on my post?? # 289 ?

SF

He looks like a hip version of Conrad Veidt! Veidt wasn't in WWII (in fact died in 1943), so hint time...

Faraaj..here are the hints...
As said before ..his father is an acclaimed actor..he did lived up to the image of junior..
His death was reported on the front page of the Times in London and Buckingham Palace expressed its condolences on his demise..
His first wife...( there were three..) too was an acclaimed actress..

Douglas Fairbanks Jr.

Guess this singing artiste.

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HT bhai...yes, you are absolutely right. incidentally i havent seen any of his films though i heard about him a lot..

Neither have I. I did googling with the wordings you posted. Full cheating!

Elton John???? looks like that..