The Price May Be Right - Number 25
Welcome to “The Price May Be Right!” I’m counting down My Top 31 Favorite Vincent Price Performances & Appearances! The countdown will cover movies, TV productions, and many more forms of media. Today’s pick is a classic mystery tale, with Price playing a significant role in the proceedings.
Number 25 is…Shelby Carpenter, from Laura.
Our previous spot on the countdown was the murder mystery “House of the Long Shadows.” Strangely enough, today’s entry is ALSO a role Vincent played in a murder mystery feature. “Laura” – the 1944 film noir “Whodunnit?” - is widely considered a classic of the genre. It’s easily one of my favorites among such pictures, and that’s saying a lot.
The plot begins with the apparent murder of the titular character, Laura Hunt: a glamorous heiress and the ambitious head of an advertising agency. After Laura is discovered shot to death in her apartment, New York City detective Mark McPherson (played by Dana Andrews) goes on a quest to solve her case…a case that he quickly grows obsessed with, to the point where some start to believe the sleuth is actually falling in love with a woman that is already dead. Things only get more complicated when it’s revealed – SPOILER ALERT – Laura is actually still alive! Evidently, the person found dead was an employee of hers. Now, McPherson’s case takes an all new twist, as it seems the person who killed Laura’s employee may still want the real Laura dead.
Price’s role in the film is that of Laura’s fiancé, Shelby Carpenter. While he’s charming, good-humored, and often seems rather lost with all the mayhem around him, he’s also something of a human parasite: it becomes obvious very quickly that Carpenter is really only interested in Laura because of her money. He, himself, is in a heap of debt; despite supposedly coming from a wealthy family, he has squandered most of his own fortune on frivolity, and now is desperately seeking a way to regain his funds and climb his way back up the social ladder. Carpenter is something of a red herring in the picture, as his need for money and penchant for womanizing could easily lead to a couple motivations for murdering Laura, especially when it is ultimately discovered she really doesn’t love him.
Vincent often said this was one of his favorite movies, and it’s not hard to see why. While his role is ultimately that of a mere supporting player, this is one of a few parts from the earlier days of his career that can be seen as a stepping stone for his path in life to come. Carpenter is a romantic and princely figure, in some ways, but he’s also shady and unscrupulous. He flip-flops between being a loveable sort of scoundrel and an unsettling figure of suspicion throughout the picture. Price, at this time, was still mostly known for his work in romantic comedies and period costume dramas; playing the Red Herring figure in a good ol’ fashioned murder mystery can easily be seen as a sort of crossroads for the kinds of movies he’d do later on.
Really, it’s the classic status of “Laura,” as a movie, that gives Price’s appearance here such power. For him, it was one of the most important films in his career, helping to get him more attention from audiences and critics alike than perhaps any movie he’d done up to that point, and the picture – as a whole – has proved influential on many other stories in the same genre since. It’s fair to say that Price’s performance as the loafing Shelby Carpenter helps the picture in some fashion. Ultimately, I just felt other roles were more prominent, in some fashion, and therefore felt I couldn’t place this part any higher on the countdown.
Tomorrow, the countdown continues with my pick for Number 24!
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25 of 250: Favorite Films - The Martian
Not long ago, work colleagues and I got into a discussion about what our favorite films were. Given my categorical nature I could not resist writing down a list and, as a writing challenge, have decided to write 250 word reviews of my favorite 25 films of all-time. Note: these are my favorite films, not what I think are the best films of all time.
Directed by: Ridley Scott
Written by: Drew Goddard
Starring: Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Kristen Wiig, Jeff Daniels
Year/Country: 2015, United States
My favorite review of this film can be found in The Atlantic. Writer Christopher Orr points out that it’s a film where everything in the making of this film went right. Director Ridley Scott (maker of previous sci-fi classics) is at the top of his game; screenwriter Drew Goddard expertly adapts Andy Weir’s novel, keeping what works and jettisoning what doesn’t; the production values are excellent; at its center is a very relatable performance by Matt Damon. There are places to nitpick (there always are) but I agree with Orr.
And why not? The story itself revels in competency. Mark Watney, part of a NASA mission to Mars, is left behind by a crew who thinks he died in a sandstorm. He’s not dead. Now he has to figure out how to survive long enough for NASA to rescue him. How will he do it? “I’m going to science the shit out of this,” Watney says to a camera. That he does is a joy to behold. Watney approaches his predicament with humor and a quiet determination that reflects a certain scientific ethos. Moreover, it’s enjoyable to watch a main character be good at their damned job. There’s a deep pleasure in simply watching an expert do what they do best, a beauty to see a mind alight with inspiration. Not only does it make it easier for us to cheer for him, it makes us cheer the people who did a damn good job bringing this film into being.
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I've been looking into getting Blu-ray copies of early Detective Conan films so that I can have better-quality footage to edit with than what I get with my DVDs and also so that I can mix my own HD English dub versions, and I know I shouldn't, I know I shouldn't, but these 20th-anniversary Blu-ray box sets?
With Blu-ray versions of the first 20 films? In boxes?
My weakness.
But the aftermarket prices......
The first volume, containing the first 10 films, is the one I'd really like (as I already have Blu-ray versions of half of the films included with Vol. 2, and hopefully there will be English-dubbed releases of more of these soon). But Vol. 1 is also the more expensive of the two. The lowest price I can find anywhere for it is 60,000 yen—far above its initial price of 37,000.
And, I mean, it's not like 60,000 yen for a years-old limited-edition box set with 10 Blu-ray movies, a commentary CD, and a theme song album is a super ludicrous, outlandish price or anything. I paid the equivalent of over 6,000 yen for one of the English-language DVDs in my collection (and averaged about the equivalent of 4,150 yen each for all six of the dubbed movies), and Blu-rays for a single one of these films in Japan (especially Special Editions) originally cost anywhere from 5,040 to 7,900 yen.
But... 60,000 yen... or 93,000 yen as the lowest price I can find for both boxes (excluding the pin collection)... is just... a lot to throw down at once.
Why do these boxes tempt me so......
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CHARACTER ASK GAME!!! 💫
Send a character + one or more of these question!
1. Why do you like or dislike this character?
2. Favorite canon thing about this character?
3. Least favorite canon thing about this character?
4. If you could put this character in any other media, be it a book, a movie, anything, what would you put them in?
5. What's the first song that comes to mind when you think about them?
6. What's something you have in common with this character?
7. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like?
8. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you despise?
9. Could you be roommates with this character?
10. Could you be best friends with this character?
11. Would you date this character?
12. What's a headcanon you have for this character?
13. What's an emoji, an emoticon and/or any symbol that reminds you of this character or you think the character would use a lot?
14. Assign a fashion aesthetic to this character.
15. What's your favorite ship for this character? (Doesn't matter if it's canon or not.)
16. What's your least favorite ship for this character?
17. What's a ship for this character you don't hate but it's not your favorite that you're fine with?
18. How about a relationship they have in canon with another character that you admire?
19. How about a relationship they have in canon that you don't like?
20. Which other character is the ideal best friend for this character, the amount of screentime they share doesn't matter?
21. If you're a fic writer and have written for this character, what's your favorite thing to do when you're writing for this character? What's something you don't like?
22. If you're a fic reader, what's something you like in fics when it comes to ths character? Something you don't like?
23. Favorite picture of this character?
24. What other character from another fandom of yours that reminds you of them?
25. What was your first impression of this character? How about now?
26. FREEBIE QUESTION!!
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