The seven seas never seemed so sad and heavy hearted as they did in the our journey with the Bounty. Filled with grief, chaos, and question for loyalty Mutiny on the Bounty won for Best Picture of 1935 at the 8th Annual Academy Awards. With Clark Gable once again leading the charge we are whisked away on a two year long journey with the English crew aboard a small ship called Bounty. Proclaimed by many to be one of the best pictures ever produced MGM had a hit on their hands with the all star cast and great shooting locations. However, the film may not have been as historically accurate to the real Mutiny that happened on the Bounty it is now in the history books for it's win at the Oscars.
Set to sail for Tahiti, The Bounty is a small ship in England that is looking to make it's journey across the sea with the notorious Captain William Bligh is in command. His reputation as an unjust, ruthless, heavy handed captain have people very worried about their survival on the two year journey. It is only the fact that the kind hearted, yet stern, Lieutenant Fletcher Christian that most are willing to join the crew. After seeing the harsh punishment that the captain has given some members of the crew, i.e. the flogging of a dead man and starving crew members, they believe they will get relief once they have reached the shores of Tahiti. That relief doesn't last long when they start to set sail for home. Only a few days into the journey back the captain kills one of his loyal members of the crew just to prove a point that he is not to be messed with. That is the final act that Christian can take before he decides on a mutiny on the ship Bounty and give the captain a taste of his own medicine.
This film may not be known by a lot of people it did make a small splash at the 1936 Awards. Just like our last film, it too had to beat out 11 other movies to win the award. RKO's Alice Adams, The Informer and Top Hat; MGM's Broadway melody of 1936, David Copperfield, and Naughty Marietta; Warner Brothers' Captain Blood and A Midsummer Night's Dream; Paramount's The Lives of Bengal Lancer and Ruggles of the Red Gap; and 20th Century's Les Miserables. It's one of three movies, The Broadway Melody and Grand Hotel being the other two, to win the Best Picture Award and win in no other category. The film had Clark Gable, Charles Laughton, and Franchot Tone all nominated for the Best Actor award. It is the only film in history to had that many in that category. The film was number 86 on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies list in 1998, however, it has since been removed from the list when they undated the list for it's 10th anniversary.
I have to say that I did not car for this film that much. The only thing that kept me interested in the film was Clark Gable... but it's very hard to hate Gable in any role. However, I was thrown a little by not seeing him in his famous mustache. Since Lieutenants in the English Navy were clean shaven he had to shave it off for this role. If he were not in it I may not have finished the film. I see why it was nominated, and won, but I don't think I would say that I enjoyed it more than I enjoy watching Top Hat. I would not go as far as to saying it was the worst film I ever watched, but I would never care to see it again.
Thursday, June 22, 2017
Wednesday, June 21, 2017
Best Pictue of 1934: It Happened One Night
Love, craziness, hilarity, and a bus that is all that it take to make a great comedy. The creators of It Happened One Night knew that from the start. Ok, well not from the very start but they go there eventually. Released in early of 1934 It Happened One Night was a movie that had everything going for it except big hopes from Columbia Pictures. Columbia thought that the movie was not going to do great and didn't think there would be much of it in later years. Every big name in the business turned down both of the major roles and thought the script was not good. However, when they finally got Claudette Colbert and Clark Gable to do the roles they rewrote the script and it became the famously well written movie that we know and love today.
Ellie Andrews has grown up in the life of luxury under the thumb of her father. Someone was always watching every move that she made. Growing up this way she started a rebellious streak and wound up falling in love with a man named King, who her father despised. When she elopes with him her father tries to convince her to get an annulment. Instead of listening to her father she runs away to try to meet her husband in New York and decides the best way to travel and avoid her father finding her is by bus. That is where she meets Peter, a newspaper man who just lost his job in really needs a good story to get it back. When he finds out who she is he decides to help her get to New York as long as he gets the exclusive scoop on her journey. As they travel across the country, loosing all of the money and luggage they have on the way, they wind up falling in love and changing the narrative on his story along the way.
While this film is such a lovely piece of work it did not come without challenges. One of them being Claudette Colbert. She was not very keen on this movie from the start and said to her friend after she was done filming "I just finished the worst film ever written". She did not have a good experience when she worked with Director Frank Capra previously so had to be paid $50,000, double her normal salary, to be in the film. She also mini tantrums while on set. One of which dealt with the hitch hiking scene. Colbert thought that showing her leg to hail a driver to pick them up was tasteless and refused to do it. That is until Capra brought in a body double to do that part for her. Once she found out she was irate at the idea of anyone posing as any part of her. She then told Capra to "get her out of here! I'll do it. That's not my leg". Clark Gable did not even want to be part of the film according to Hollywood legend. Apparently, Gable was being lent to Columbia "as punishment" for acting up at MGM. Columbia was considered a lesser company in comparison and wanted Gable to do a lesser film to show the MGM had what it took to make his a start. Well, the shock was on MGM, Gable and Colbert when It Happened One Night was nominated for the Best Picture Award but they were Nominated to Best Actor and Best Actress as well.
This is all very historic because the is the first time that the Oscars limited the awards to the previous calendar year. So instead of the films being nominated from July to July they moved it to the calendar year. The 7th Annual Academy Awards had their movie nominations from August of 1933 and all of 1934's movie to account for the lapse in time. It was the Oscars with the largest nomination period, and it was also the first year that any movie was nominated for more than four awards.
The history making does not stop there. It Happened One Night was the first movie to do a "Clean Sweep" at the Oscars. That means the film took home the Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Screen Play. This would not be a feat that would happen again until 41 years later when One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest in 1975 took that title. This event was so unexpected the Claudette Colbert did not plan to go to the awards show because she thought she was never win. She was actually boarding a train for a cross country trip when it was found out that she had won, and the studio chief, Harry Cohn, had someone go and get her. Luckily, the train had not left yet and they were able to get her to the presentation to accept the award. As for Clark Gable, if Hollywood legend is true, I think MGM learned their lesson of lending him out to other companies. That "punishment" totally back fired if I must say so. This also makes the first every Romantic Comedy to win Best Picture as well.
The list that this film beat out for the award is rather impressive. There a quite a few that are considered classics today! The list is staggering as well. Today, nominations are limited to 10 ever year. However, for 1935 to accommodate a year and half of films there were 12 Nominees. The Barretts of Wimpole Street, The Thin Man, and Viva Villa all by MGM; Cleopatra by Paramount, Flirtation Walk by First National, The Gay Divorcee by RKO, Here Comes the Navy by Warner Brothers, The House of Rothschild by 20th Century, Imitation of Life by Universal, One Night of Love by Columbia, and The White Parade by Fox. All of that with only a $325,000 budget they truly created an unexpected masterpiece. Congress agreed as well when they selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry in 1993.
This is one of my all time favorite movies. The plot is a little thin you really start to think about it but what it lacks in plot it makes up for in every other category! Every detail was simply wonderful and there is never a dull moment through the film. There is always something keeping the audience interacting with the film. The fact that this film is one of the last of the Pre-Code films give it a little something more tantalizing over all. The wit is unmatched! No one can deliver lines like Clark Gable can and he makes it look to damn easy too! Claudette Colbert either makes you want to be Clark Gable or make you want to be her in this film. They are the reason that the film is what it is today. This is a film that will never be matched and should never be touched by Hollywood again! It's is simply perfection the way it is and needs no remakes or "new twists" with the story line. If you want Hollywood at it's unexpected finest this is the film you need to watch!
Ellie Andrews has grown up in the life of luxury under the thumb of her father. Someone was always watching every move that she made. Growing up this way she started a rebellious streak and wound up falling in love with a man named King, who her father despised. When she elopes with him her father tries to convince her to get an annulment. Instead of listening to her father she runs away to try to meet her husband in New York and decides the best way to travel and avoid her father finding her is by bus. That is where she meets Peter, a newspaper man who just lost his job in really needs a good story to get it back. When he finds out who she is he decides to help her get to New York as long as he gets the exclusive scoop on her journey. As they travel across the country, loosing all of the money and luggage they have on the way, they wind up falling in love and changing the narrative on his story along the way.
While this film is such a lovely piece of work it did not come without challenges. One of them being Claudette Colbert. She was not very keen on this movie from the start and said to her friend after she was done filming "I just finished the worst film ever written". She did not have a good experience when she worked with Director Frank Capra previously so had to be paid $50,000, double her normal salary, to be in the film. She also mini tantrums while on set. One of which dealt with the hitch hiking scene. Colbert thought that showing her leg to hail a driver to pick them up was tasteless and refused to do it. That is until Capra brought in a body double to do that part for her. Once she found out she was irate at the idea of anyone posing as any part of her. She then told Capra to "get her out of here! I'll do it. That's not my leg". Clark Gable did not even want to be part of the film according to Hollywood legend. Apparently, Gable was being lent to Columbia "as punishment" for acting up at MGM. Columbia was considered a lesser company in comparison and wanted Gable to do a lesser film to show the MGM had what it took to make his a start. Well, the shock was on MGM, Gable and Colbert when It Happened One Night was nominated for the Best Picture Award but they were Nominated to Best Actor and Best Actress as well.
This is all very historic because the is the first time that the Oscars limited the awards to the previous calendar year. So instead of the films being nominated from July to July they moved it to the calendar year. The 7th Annual Academy Awards had their movie nominations from August of 1933 and all of 1934's movie to account for the lapse in time. It was the Oscars with the largest nomination period, and it was also the first year that any movie was nominated for more than four awards.
The history making does not stop there. It Happened One Night was the first movie to do a "Clean Sweep" at the Oscars. That means the film took home the Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Screen Play. This would not be a feat that would happen again until 41 years later when One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest in 1975 took that title. This event was so unexpected the Claudette Colbert did not plan to go to the awards show because she thought she was never win. She was actually boarding a train for a cross country trip when it was found out that she had won, and the studio chief, Harry Cohn, had someone go and get her. Luckily, the train had not left yet and they were able to get her to the presentation to accept the award. As for Clark Gable, if Hollywood legend is true, I think MGM learned their lesson of lending him out to other companies. That "punishment" totally back fired if I must say so. This also makes the first every Romantic Comedy to win Best Picture as well.
The list that this film beat out for the award is rather impressive. There a quite a few that are considered classics today! The list is staggering as well. Today, nominations are limited to 10 ever year. However, for 1935 to accommodate a year and half of films there were 12 Nominees. The Barretts of Wimpole Street, The Thin Man, and Viva Villa all by MGM; Cleopatra by Paramount, Flirtation Walk by First National, The Gay Divorcee by RKO, Here Comes the Navy by Warner Brothers, The House of Rothschild by 20th Century, Imitation of Life by Universal, One Night of Love by Columbia, and The White Parade by Fox. All of that with only a $325,000 budget they truly created an unexpected masterpiece. Congress agreed as well when they selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry in 1993.
This is one of my all time favorite movies. The plot is a little thin you really start to think about it but what it lacks in plot it makes up for in every other category! Every detail was simply wonderful and there is never a dull moment through the film. There is always something keeping the audience interacting with the film. The fact that this film is one of the last of the Pre-Code films give it a little something more tantalizing over all. The wit is unmatched! No one can deliver lines like Clark Gable can and he makes it look to damn easy too! Claudette Colbert either makes you want to be Clark Gable or make you want to be her in this film. They are the reason that the film is what it is today. This is a film that will never be matched and should never be touched by Hollywood again! It's is simply perfection the way it is and needs no remakes or "new twists" with the story line. If you want Hollywood at it's unexpected finest this is the film you need to watch!
Tuesday, June 20, 2017
Best Picture of 1932/1933: Cavalcade
"A toast to our old friend the future"
Cavalcade in it's definition means a group of people walking, riding or a horse, or in a motor vehicle. However, when we come to the Best Picture of 1932/1933 Cavalcade is the story of one family's walk through life.
Opening up on New Year's Eve 1899, the Marryot family is welcoming in the 20th Century with their two young sons. With the Robert Marryot about to head off to serve in the Second Boer War, Jane if very worried for not only her husband but her family's future. As we travel with them through major world events, such as the sinking of the Titanic and World War II, Jane and her husband teach us that life does not go as we have always dreamed it would but making the most out of what we are given life can still be beautiful.
Fox is the big named movie company that takes home the Academy Award for this movie. Beating out their own State Fair, Warner Brothers' 42nd Street and I am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang, Paramount's A Farewell to Arms and She Done Him Wrong, Columbia's Lady for a Day, RKO's Little Women, London Films' The Private Life of Henry VIII, and MGM's Smilin' Through; Cavalcade is one of those rare truly meaningful movies that only come around once in a lifetime. It's a marvelous movie to behold. Some of the best acting, costumes, and film editing I have seen in a movie made in this time period.
Based off the play by the same name, released in 1931, this film had a lot to live up to with the play's success. So, with a $1.8 Million budget Fox set out to make the movie just as big of a success. Filming mainly in England, and two different directors, this movie pushed the envelope with it's pre-code language such as "hell" and "damn". The Hay's Code were starting to become a bigger issue in the movie world at this time so it was not so much of a scandal when those words were included. That would not be the same for movies years to come. However, Fox's president defended the decision and the words were left in the film. The film was recognized for it's merits in 2002 when it was chosen to be preserved in the Academy Film Archive and cementing it's place in further into film history.
This is going to be one of those movie that will leave a lasting impression on me. It will not be soon forgotten in my book. It has every emotion that you ever want in a movie and it keep you entertained and a little on the edge of your seat. I would recommend this for anyone who is looking for simple courage to go on in a dark time. This story has a lot of family tragedy and yet when it all comes to the end it has a lot of hope too. Not just the cheesy kind of hope that you see in these newer movies, but the kind of hope that you get when you think you can not give anymore. It's a wonderful story about inner strength and the real meaning of life. That it's not about getting all the stuff you can get. It's about living.... simply living through it all.
Cavalcade in it's definition means a group of people walking, riding or a horse, or in a motor vehicle. However, when we come to the Best Picture of 1932/1933 Cavalcade is the story of one family's walk through life.
Opening up on New Year's Eve 1899, the Marryot family is welcoming in the 20th Century with their two young sons. With the Robert Marryot about to head off to serve in the Second Boer War, Jane if very worried for not only her husband but her family's future. As we travel with them through major world events, such as the sinking of the Titanic and World War II, Jane and her husband teach us that life does not go as we have always dreamed it would but making the most out of what we are given life can still be beautiful.
Fox is the big named movie company that takes home the Academy Award for this movie. Beating out their own State Fair, Warner Brothers' 42nd Street and I am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang, Paramount's A Farewell to Arms and She Done Him Wrong, Columbia's Lady for a Day, RKO's Little Women, London Films' The Private Life of Henry VIII, and MGM's Smilin' Through; Cavalcade is one of those rare truly meaningful movies that only come around once in a lifetime. It's a marvelous movie to behold. Some of the best acting, costumes, and film editing I have seen in a movie made in this time period.
Based off the play by the same name, released in 1931, this film had a lot to live up to with the play's success. So, with a $1.8 Million budget Fox set out to make the movie just as big of a success. Filming mainly in England, and two different directors, this movie pushed the envelope with it's pre-code language such as "hell" and "damn". The Hay's Code were starting to become a bigger issue in the movie world at this time so it was not so much of a scandal when those words were included. That would not be the same for movies years to come. However, Fox's president defended the decision and the words were left in the film. The film was recognized for it's merits in 2002 when it was chosen to be preserved in the Academy Film Archive and cementing it's place in further into film history.
This is going to be one of those movie that will leave a lasting impression on me. It will not be soon forgotten in my book. It has every emotion that you ever want in a movie and it keep you entertained and a little on the edge of your seat. I would recommend this for anyone who is looking for simple courage to go on in a dark time. This story has a lot of family tragedy and yet when it all comes to the end it has a lot of hope too. Not just the cheesy kind of hope that you see in these newer movies, but the kind of hope that you get when you think you can not give anymore. It's a wonderful story about inner strength and the real meaning of life. That it's not about getting all the stuff you can get. It's about living.... simply living through it all.
Thursday, June 15, 2017
Best Picture of 1931/32: Grand Hotel
With the lives of so many people being told at once there a few places that they could all be told at the same time. The people had to be intimate with each other and at the same time not know each other at all. One of the few places that it could be done would be a hotel, but not just any hotel, it had to be a Grand Hotel. Beating out Goldwyn's Arrowsmith, Fox's Bad Girl, MGM's The Champ, Warner Bother's Five Star Final, and Paramount's One Hour with You, Shanghai Express, and The Smiling Lieutenant, MGM's Grand Hotel was the winner of the Best Picture of the 5th Annual Academy Awards in 1932.
This is a fast pace film where brief snippets of people lives interact. You have one man who worked all of his life to save money to find he is sick, and with no family to give his savings too, he decides to travel the world and spend the remainder of his life seeing and knowing the world. He decides that he will stay at the Grade Hotel in Berlin. This is where he finds and befriends a Baron. The Baron who squandered his fortune and is now making a living by secretly playing cards and stealing jewelry to give the appearance that he still has money. He tries to steal a Pearl Necklace of a Ballerina, who's career is starting to fall and is on a verge of a breakdown, and they end up falling in love instead. However, the Baron's pride gets the better of him and instead of letting the Ballerina pay for him to run away with her he wants to take care of his debts himself and tries to seal from the man who is sick. When he gets to know this man and decides not to steal from him he goes after the wallet of the sick man's jerk of an employer. The Employer, who just failed to make a merger deal and is trying to make himself fell better with his stenographer, catches and kills The baron leaving all of the other people who knew I'm him a question of what to do next.
Produced by MGM with it's $700,000 budget, $13,397,791.97 in today's money, it's no wonder that the film had such a star studded cast. The likes of Greta Garbo, John Barrymore, Joan Crawford, and Lionel Barrymore it's very hard not to have a success come out of that film. It's still have a rating on 85% on Rotten Tomatoes today, and it's hold the number 30 spot on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes list for the line said by Greta Garbo "I want to be alone". This film is historic in other ways too. In 2007 The Library of Congress selected this film for preservation for the National Film Registry for it's use of story telling. In Hollywood they use the platform of many difference characters lives overlapping in one place like a cruise ship or and airport. The other historic part of this film is that it is the only film, thus far, that was won best picture and not nominated in any other category for the Academy Awards.
This film was so much more interesting than Cimarron. I was never bored once watching this film. I would have to say that the only problem I had with the film is something that really can't be helped much. That would be Greta Garbo. She is a beautiful lady, with a lovely voice, the problem for me was that she over gestured a lot through the film. The reason I say that this can't really be helped is that Ms. Garbo was originally a silent movie star and the way that they got the point across on film was to be slightly more dramatic with their gestures. Now, please don't get the confused with over acting. I don't believe that Ms. Garbo was over acting at all. If she were I would have been really annoyed not only with her gestures but how she read her lines. They would have felt more like Lena Lamont in Singing in the Rain if I thought she was over acting. She delivered her lines beautifully and she did get the feeling across that needed to be had. I think that her character in this film got away with the slight over gestures because she was playing a ballerina who's career was starting to decline and it's made up for that fact. The one surprise that I had was seeing Joan Crawford at such a young age acting on the screen. She was a silent movie star in her start as well but she came on the scene right before they started putting sound into the films and she transitioned gracefully into they period. It was very weird seeing her playing the "sweet and innocent girl" since she has become one of the best villainesses of the screen it's interesting to have to adjust to her playing this role. She did a magnificent job of it though! As always the Barrymores are always a joy to watch on film. whether it be John and Lionel or our very own modern Barrymore Drew, they are always great to watch! I would have to say that I would love to watch this film again. It seems to be one of those films that you could find more to love about the movie every time you watched it. I say that would have been the right pick for that year!
This is a fast pace film where brief snippets of people lives interact. You have one man who worked all of his life to save money to find he is sick, and with no family to give his savings too, he decides to travel the world and spend the remainder of his life seeing and knowing the world. He decides that he will stay at the Grade Hotel in Berlin. This is where he finds and befriends a Baron. The Baron who squandered his fortune and is now making a living by secretly playing cards and stealing jewelry to give the appearance that he still has money. He tries to steal a Pearl Necklace of a Ballerina, who's career is starting to fall and is on a verge of a breakdown, and they end up falling in love instead. However, the Baron's pride gets the better of him and instead of letting the Ballerina pay for him to run away with her he wants to take care of his debts himself and tries to seal from the man who is sick. When he gets to know this man and decides not to steal from him he goes after the wallet of the sick man's jerk of an employer. The Employer, who just failed to make a merger deal and is trying to make himself fell better with his stenographer, catches and kills The baron leaving all of the other people who knew I'm him a question of what to do next.
Produced by MGM with it's $700,000 budget, $13,397,791.97 in today's money, it's no wonder that the film had such a star studded cast. The likes of Greta Garbo, John Barrymore, Joan Crawford, and Lionel Barrymore it's very hard not to have a success come out of that film. It's still have a rating on 85% on Rotten Tomatoes today, and it's hold the number 30 spot on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes list for the line said by Greta Garbo "I want to be alone". This film is historic in other ways too. In 2007 The Library of Congress selected this film for preservation for the National Film Registry for it's use of story telling. In Hollywood they use the platform of many difference characters lives overlapping in one place like a cruise ship or and airport. The other historic part of this film is that it is the only film, thus far, that was won best picture and not nominated in any other category for the Academy Awards.
This film was so much more interesting than Cimarron. I was never bored once watching this film. I would have to say that the only problem I had with the film is something that really can't be helped much. That would be Greta Garbo. She is a beautiful lady, with a lovely voice, the problem for me was that she over gestured a lot through the film. The reason I say that this can't really be helped is that Ms. Garbo was originally a silent movie star and the way that they got the point across on film was to be slightly more dramatic with their gestures. Now, please don't get the confused with over acting. I don't believe that Ms. Garbo was over acting at all. If she were I would have been really annoyed not only with her gestures but how she read her lines. They would have felt more like Lena Lamont in Singing in the Rain if I thought she was over acting. She delivered her lines beautifully and she did get the feeling across that needed to be had. I think that her character in this film got away with the slight over gestures because she was playing a ballerina who's career was starting to decline and it's made up for that fact. The one surprise that I had was seeing Joan Crawford at such a young age acting on the screen. She was a silent movie star in her start as well but she came on the scene right before they started putting sound into the films and she transitioned gracefully into they period. It was very weird seeing her playing the "sweet and innocent girl" since she has become one of the best villainesses of the screen it's interesting to have to adjust to her playing this role. She did a magnificent job of it though! As always the Barrymores are always a joy to watch on film. whether it be John and Lionel or our very own modern Barrymore Drew, they are always great to watch! I would have to say that I would love to watch this film again. It seems to be one of those films that you could find more to love about the movie every time you watched it. I say that would have been the right pick for that year!
Monday, June 5, 2017
Best Picture of 1930/31: Cimarron
The Winner of the Best Picture for the 4th annual Academy Awards is a movie from 1931 called Cimarron. Produce by RKO, with a $1.5 Million budget, this film is based on a novel by the same name. Set during the years of 1889-1929 it's the story of a family moving to the new territory of Oklahoma with the promise of free land during the land rush. The movie starts about a man with a dream of raising his family in the untamed west. Yancey Cravat makes movies his family and then finds himself not were he wanted to be at in his dream. He wanted to live in the wild not in a boomer town working on a newspaper. When decides to leave for another land rush he leave his wife and two children behind to work on the dream he originally started. Her dream to keep her family together seems to fall apart when both her children begin to grow up and fall in love. She starts new dreams of her own to keep the newspaper alive and to become more involved in her community. This film is a tribute to the fighting spirit of young America to expand and adapt with the changing times. This film won best picture beating out East Lynne by Fox, The Front Page by United Artists, Skippy by Paramount and Trader Horn by MGM. This would be one of only two wins for Best Picture for RKO.
As much as I would love to say I liked this film, I really didn't. I thought the movie was very slow moving and I was way more interested in my phone than in the film at all. I wish I have seen some of the other films that were nominated for that year to get a better gauge as to why it won. However, I have not seen, or heard, of the films so I could not do a comparison. I wouldn't watch it again on my own. I wasn't that impressed with what I saw.
As much as I would love to say I liked this film, I really didn't. I thought the movie was very slow moving and I was way more interested in my phone than in the film at all. I wish I have seen some of the other films that were nominated for that year to get a better gauge as to why it won. However, I have not seen, or heard, of the films so I could not do a comparison. I wouldn't watch it again on my own. I wasn't that impressed with what I saw.
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