QUICKIE: Look deep into my eyes..... now sing baby, SING! .....Uh, owie.
PLOT: Sinister music maestro Svengali (John Barrymore) can control the actions of women through hypnotism and his telepathic powers. When a pupil he has seduced announces she has left her husband for him, he uses his powers to cause her to commit suicide and then he promptly forgets her. He meets a beautiful model, Trilby (Marian Marsh), and becomes infatuated with her, but she, in turn, falls for a young artist called Billee (Bramwell Fletcher) who also loves her. One day Svengali hypnotizes Trilby to cure her headache, but also examines her upper palate and decides it is an ideal cavity for great singing. He hypnotizes her to fake her suicide, and marry him. Svengali uses his powers to make her sing wonderfully and Madame Svengali becomes a sensation throughout Europe. The constant hypnotism takes a toll on Svengali's health, yet he hides it well. At a performance Billee discovers the ruse and begins to follow the pair, upsetting Svengali enough to have him cancel performances too frequently, so they no longer can perform in Europe. They go to Egypt, but Billee relentlessly follows.
SUMMARY: This is a phenomenal movie. Great acting, great story, cool cinematography. Really worth the watch, and don't watch the 1983 remake with yucky Jodie Foster. Gag. She can't hold a candle to everything Marian Marsh brings to the character. Beauty, charm, grace, innocence and vulnerability. I can't believe Jodie could be hypnotized, and I can never "forget" the star, or she's always Clarice to me. John Barrymore is THE man. He's an amazingly good actor, and amusing to boot. That beard is so funny looking I can't take my eyes off it. He has the presence of a real star, yet we get lost in the character because he is such a GOOD actor. Unlike Jodie Foster. Have I mentioned I don't like her? And look at how HUGE the hallways are in those Paris studios. And the costumes! A definite classic. Watch it, you'll love it.
Family Collection: Disc 55 - side B
Watch for free here:
http://www.archive.org/details/SvengaliJohnBarrymoreBKCap1931
Read the novel for free here:
http://www.hypnosisinmedia.com/index.php?title=Fiction:Du_Maurier%2C_George_%28Trilby%29_Part_I
Svengali ~ 1931 -BW
Becky Sharp ~ 1935 -colour
QUICKIE: It's "Gone With The Wind" in shorthand.
PLOT: Set against the background of the Battle of Waterloo, Becky Sharp (Miriam Hopkins) is the story of Vanity Fair by Thackeray. Becky and Amelia (Francis Dee) are girls at school together, but Becky is from a "show biz" family, or in other words, very low class. Becky manages to insinuate herself in Amelia's family and gets to know all their friends. In the movie we get to see the class distinctions in England at the time, and get a sense of what it was like for the English military at the time of the Napoleonic wars. We also get a clear look at how "orphans" are viewed and treated. Her mistreatment forms her character into a sardonic gold digging social climber. After using various men to raise her status within society, Becky's standing is dealt a serious blow and she is forced to work as a singing girl in a beer hall. Undaunted by her decline, Becky vows to once again gain her status within society and eventually resumes her climb.
SUMMARY: Miriam Hopkins was nominated for an Oscar for her role, but lost to Bette Davis for her film Dangerous. (IMDB) This film was nominated for two other categories at the Venice Film Festival and won Best Colour Film. This was the first feature-length three-color film, the very first film in "Technicolor". It is a remake of Vanity Fair, yet a different film in many respects. So, there is alot of talk about this film and how it compares to the novel, the Broadway play, it's various remakes, and all the hub-bub over the colour. While all of that is interesting, none of it mattered to me before I watched the film. I had just finished watching Myrna Loy as Becky Sharp in the 1932 Vanity Fair, so I was familiar with the story and eager to see this film.
This Becky Sharp is an amazing character. Where so much is implied and quieted down with the Myrna Loy version, Miriam Hopkins is brash, loud and daring. She openly insults people and royality call her "fascinating" for it. She rides higher and higher, with it all culminating one night at a Royal banquet. The battle of Waterloo breaks out and in that moment her world crashes as well.
Sometimes I really enjoy watching movies about people living by their wits and using people. At least Becky is beautiful and vivacious. She enlivens many mens' lives and she should be getting something in return for that. Besides scorn, which she got anyway from the ladies. Many people seem to forget how times were so different in the past and the only way a woman had to get ahead in the world was to play the game and "marry up". No one enjoys poverty, so it was natural for a woman to go after as much as she could. Keep in mind that the men encouraged this behavior in women as well. For if it didn't work, women wouldn't have behaved that way. This movie also hints at the hostility between the classes and just how difficult it is to rise above one's station. But Becky gets it very clearly, which is probabally why she can work the system so well. Society is shallow and built on appearances. Behind closed doors it's a different world.
I loved this user review on IMDB:
"This is "Gone With the Wind" for people who don't care too much about quality. Miriam Hopkins is cast in the Scarlett role - selfish, social-climbing, with no compunctions about using people at whim. The difference is that Scarlett eventually learns her lesson and we have hope, at the end of the story, that she'll live according to the knowledge she's acquired. At the end of THIS story - we're positive that Becky's going to eventually end up in hell, and good riddance. Becky's a manipulative brat who rises to the top, comes crashing down and is eager to start the cycle again."
Family Collection: Disc 54 - side A
Creature Double (triple) Feature: Watch Vanity Fair before this film, then after both, you can watch Reese Witherspoon in the 2004 remake. That's alot of Becky Sharp!
Watch for free Here:
http://www.archive.org/details/Becky_Sharp
Martin Luther ~ 1953 -BW
QUICKIE: One monk changed the world. Or (singing) "I gotta be me, I just gotta be meeeeeee...."
PLOT: This biographical account of Martin Luther's actions that eventually created the Protestant and Lutheran religions was filmed in conjunction with the Lutheran Church. Niall MacGinnis portrays the monk who's nailing of his list of 95 theses to the church door created a stir so large that it shook the very foundations of the Catholic Church. This film shows the struggle between Luther and the organized church and how the Catholic Church was not fully explaining things he questioned, which led him to be labeled a heretic.
SUMMARY: Imagine my embarassment to find this film nominated for two Academy Awards. Oh well. No accounting for taste and all that. (Mine that is.) I found this film interesting, yet dry and dull overall. However, it's a biography of a monk, so it's not going to have car chases and murders a plenty like most of these classic films do. So, as a biography of a monk, I guess it's pretty entertaining as he does get called a heretic and must renounce his writings to save himself.
Unavailable on the net to watch for free as far as I can tell.
Vanity Fair - 1932 -BW
PLOT: This cinematic adaptation of William Makepeace Thackeray's novel stars Myrna Loy in her first starring role. Becky (Loy) and Amelia are girlfriends at school together, but Becky is lower class, being an orphan. Becky manages to insinuate herself into Amelia's family and gets to know all their friends. Becky is a woman who wishes to get ahead in life and will not let anything stand in her way. This screen version adds a modern twist to the tale with Sharp using older gentleman to increase her status in society, eventually having everything come crashing down upon her. She manages to ruin her own life, becoming sick, broke, and lonely, and also ruins the lives of many other "loved ones".
SUMMARY: The actual title on the DVD is "Indecent," and additionally subtitled "The Private Life of Becky Sharp." Myrna Loy plays Becky Sharp and seems gargantuanly tall , yet still stunning as she uses all her womanly wiles to get her what she wants in life. Spending her time playing to any rich man who fancies her, usually the old ugly ones. This MillCreek version has abysmal sound quality and the editing is atrocious. Yet, that may be part of it's "charm". I spent some time questioning what was really going on as her "indiscretions" are so implied as to not even be happening. The viewer must fill in the blanks, big time. The ending shows her decline into rags again, yet there's no empathy or emotions on our part for her as the whole movie was rather shallow, simple and dull. This movie was remade in 1935 as Becky Sharp staring Miriam Hopkins and then again in 2004 with Reese Witherspoon starring as Becky.
Family Collection: Disc 53 - Side B
Creature Double (triple) Feature: Watch Becky Sharp after this film, and then you can watch Reese Witherspoon in the 2004 remake. That's alot of Becky Sharp!
Royal Wedding ~ 1951 -colour
PLOT: Tom Bowen (Fred Astaire) and Ellen Bowen (Jane Powell) are singing and dancing siblings whose agent Irving Klinger (Keenan Wynn) sends them to do their musical act in Great Britain. Keenan Wynn plays also Irving's British twin brother Edgar. Ellen falls in love with a man she meets during the ship trip. This man is called Lord John Brindale (Peter Lawford). Tom finds his sweetheart from Britain. That lucky gal is Anne Ashmond (Sarah Churchill) who is dancing in Tom's musical. The plot is simple: boy meets girl, they fall in love and must choose between their careers or love.
SUMMARY: This is a spectacular Fred Astaire film where he dances on the ceiling of his room, waltzes with a coat rack, and does elegant duet dances with the gals. The comedy is light, the plot is rather simple, the tunes unmemorable, the dancing is out of this world. If you like song and dance movies this Academy Award nominated movie should be in the top 10 list for best one ever, if only for the rotating room & coat rack dance scenes. PDMR blog rule: "movies end with everybody getting married" is royaly played out here. (teehee)
Family Collection: Disc 46 - Side A
Watch for free: http://www.archive.org/details/royal_wedding
Mr. Imperium ~ 1951 -BW
PLOT: This romantic tale centers on a playboy crown prince (Ezio Pinza) who meets up with a nightclub singer (Lana Turner) while they are both vacationing in Italy. Falling in love, the two embark upon a clandestine romance that they are eventually forced to end due to interference from both of their professions. 12 years later, the two meet up again and realize they still love each other, but now she has become a Hollywood star and he has become King of his country.
Mr. Robinson Crusoe ~ 1932 -BW
Google video.com
The Great Gabbo ~1929 -BW
The dance sequences were very entertaining, if not just for the silly costumes and sets alone. After all, it's not every day we get to see a spider and fly portrayed in sequened gowns. I also liked how the couple carried on a conversation during their performance, like we were getting a secret side of the nightly performances. It's not really a musical type of film, this movie has more meat to it than most musicals do.
The story itself was good and it's an entertaining movie. I did keep feeling that something really bad was just about to happen, and yet it never did, so I felt a bit unsatisfied at the end. Even Gabbo's madness is portrayed in such a mild manner that I didn't quite get that he had totally flipped his lid. Perhaps that is a strong point of this film, and most classic films, is that they don't beat you over the head with their overly graphic, in your face bluntness.
Private Buckaroo ~ 1942 -BW
PLOT: This WW II musical comedy tells the story of a young inductee who has trouble fitting into the military lifestyle. The inductee changes his ways after meeting a retired officer's lovely daughter. Harry James is also drafted and his band decides to enlist to stay with their leader. James and his group decide to entertain the troops by putting on a show. Along for the ride in this film are The Andrews Sisters, Shemp Howard, Joe E. Lewis, Huntz Hall and a young Donald O'Connor.
SUMMARY: What a fun musical movie. But don't look too hard for a deep plot. There's enough of a story to keep the movie going, but this is more of a film showcasing musical and dance talent. The Andrew Sisters do such hits as: Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree, Six Jerks in a Jeep, and Three Little Sisters. The Harry James Orchestra does You Made Me Love You. The ending is VERY pro-war and some parts of this movie border on offensive to me. But, it was a different time and getting "the enemy" was more civilized, if you'll allow me the use of that term there, than today's wars have become. Things were definitely different then. The musical numbers are fun and the story with Bonnie-Belle (Mary Wickes) and Sgt. 'Muggsy' Shavel (Shemp Howard) is very entertaining. The high energy swing dancing from a bunch of teenagers in the finale just blew my mind. Those kids could dance!
Family Collection: Disc 40 - Side A
Watch for free here:
http://www.archiveclassicmovies.com/watch.html
Three Husbands ~ 1951 -BW
QUICKIE: Your dead friend left you a letter confessing he did your wife.... psych!
PLOT: When a recently deceased playboy gets to heaven and is granted one wish--granted to all newcomers--he requests that he be able to see the reactions of three husbands, with whom he regularly played poker, to a letter he left each of them claiming to have had an affair with each's wife.
SUMMARY: An interesting peek into three relationships and how they all centered around Max the bachelor. The film shows how each couple responds to the letter and in flashback reveals the moment/s when the alleged affairs could have happened. I was a bit disappointed in the end that all three wives took their husbands back, but considering it was the 50's, of course it's going to end that way. A nice, harmless film that doesn't really say much, other than "don't neglect your wife", but is still a nice film to watch. Some "high society" moments, and some fun party scenes. Eve Arden & Billie Burke are a couple of my more favorited actresses, and they deliver character as always.
Family Collection: Disc 35 - side A
A Bride For Henry ~ 1937 -BW
QUICKIE: Rich spoiled brat marries her lawyer who ends up setting her straight.
PLOT: On the day of her wedding Sheila's (Anne Nagel) fiancé Eric Reynolds (Henry Mollison) doesn't show up, sleeping off the results of the previous night's wild bachelor party. Miffed, the woman decides to go ahead with the wedding anyway to teach her fiancé a lesson. Sheila calls her lawyer, Henry Tuttle (Warren Hull), and has him stand in for her missing groom. Although Sheila intends to divorce her new "husband" at the first opportunity, Henry --who has been in love with her for a long time-- is determined to win his "wife's" hand. Helen Van Orden (Claudia Dell) plays an old acquaintance of Henry's that helps open Sheila's eyes to Henry.
SUMMARY: Sheila is everything contemptuous about high society. She's spoiled to the core. So much so that she marries her lawyer to "teach her fiance a lesson". So much for the sanctity of marriage. Most of this film portrays Sheila and her fiance, who shows up for the honeymoon part anyway, they bumble through various adventures and eventually end up in jail. All the while, Henry Tuttle, the groom, is the very image of class and style. Displaying all his myriad talents of diving, tennis, horseback riding, why he's the very image of good breeding in high society. Eventually Sheila's affections sway from Eric to Henry. In the meantime we get to see high society in all it's glory with fabulous gowns and handsome tuxedos, in a lush resort setting. (Except for the jail scene.) A nice, neutral movie. No killing, no violence, no car chases, no curses. Just high society doing it's thing. Very nice.
Family Collection: Disc 35, side B
Watch for free online:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7038526587945494389&q=A+Bride+For+Henry&total=72&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0&hl=en
The Villian Still Pursued Her ~ 1940 -BW
QUICKIE: A villain, a maiden, the hero ... and then ... gasp! ... alcohol!
PLOT: The widow Wilson (Margaret Hamilton) and her daughter Mary (Anita Louise) have just learned that old Mr. Middleton, who held the mortgage on their home, has passed away. They are now visited by Middleton's lawyer, Cribbs (Alan Mowbray), who informs them that Middleton's son and heir Edward (Richard Cromwell) plans to foreclose and take possession of their home. When Mary goes to plead with Edward, she soon discovers that it is really the unscrupulous Cribbs who wants to drive them out of their home. When Mary and Edward become engaged to be married, it looks as if all is well. But the calculating Cribbs has a new plan, which begins with luring young Edward into a lifestyle of drinking and dissipation. Buster Keaton plays William Dalton, the friend to Edward who turns him around in the end.
SUMMARY:
Villain: "You must pay the rent!"
Maiden: "I can't pay the rent!"
Hero: "I'll pay the rent!"
Maiden: "My hero!"
Villain: "Curses! Foiled again."
The rest of the story:
Maiden & Hero marry.
Maiden: "Lips that touch liquor shall never touch mine."
Villain: "Here, Mr. Hero, have a drink."
Hero drinks for 20 years straight.
Maiden: "Oh, my poor husband."
Watch this movie and laugh. Hiss at the villain, clap for the hero. Make some popcorn to throw at the screen. It's a silly melodramatic romp of ridiculous over-acting and predictable plots. Twice they stop the movie to post notes to the theater customers. Shakespeare is vomiting. We're laughing at the camp. Great fun for all... except Bill. wink.
The Admiral Was A Lady ~ 1950 -BW
QUICKIE:
Stop that girl I think she's cute.....
Stop that girl or I'll have to get a job.....
Stop that girl because I'm in love with her....
PLOT: Four unemployed veterans work hard at staying unemployed and all is going well until "the Admiral" (Wanda Hendrix) catches the eye of Jimmy Stevens (Edmond O'Brien), the gangs' ring leader. Rudy Vallee plays Peter Pedigrew the jukebox king, who bribes the gang to get the Admiral back together with her fiance or else he'll get the vets' some jobs. Hillary Brooke plays Mrs. Shirley Pedigrew (Peter's ex-wife) who has stolen the Admirals' fiance.
SUMMARY: This is just a silly movie from start to finish. Four veterans have set up deals all over town so the gang goes from place to place all day doing little errands, without actually being employed, as then they'd lose their veteran unemployment pension. Once the Admiral starts meddling in their lives we find the deeper reasons for the veterans' lives being what they are. It's a cute and fun movie. Nothing too heavy. The Admiral keeps trying to get back to Wala Wala to get married and the gang has to stop her from leaving through various ruses.
His Double Life ~ 1933 -BW
QUICKIE: A sweet movie based on a misunderstanding. I think it's a 1930's chick-flick!
PLOT: Priam Farrel (Roland Young) is a celebrated artist but a social recluse. When his valet dies of a sudden illness, a mix-up leads to the body being identified as Farrel's. The timid artist then assumes the identity of his former servant, but finds himself faced with constant dilemmas as a result.
SUMMARY: I like movies about painters. I like movies about old high society. I like Roland Young, so I was going to like this movie. Some may consider it boring. There's no gun play, sex appeal nor car chases. No mad scientists and crazed monsters. Unless you count the scores of morons who never let Farrel clarify his identity. What else can the man do to prove who he is but paint?
I love the unspoken morality of this movie: the wife who loves him and doesn't care what his name is, or about his former life, she loves him just the same. The greedy people who crawl through the woodwork of this mans life once he's dead. How we never know how we really effect someone elses' life. Farrel gets to go to his own funeral, and it's a moving and funny moment. It's amusing how people act after thinking he's dead and Farrel is talking to them about himself.
Things get complicated when Farrrel begins painting again, and his paintings are recognized and sold as "Farrels", who should be dead. So he ends up in court and must prove his identity in a very unconventional way. What's very interesting is he can get away with saying over and over, "I don't care, this isn't my lawsuit, I just want to paint!" As an artist, I sympathize with the frustration of the ridiculousness of the bureaucratic world which keeps the artist from self expression. I could read such themes into this movie forever, but I'm tired now. It's a good movie, it may bore some, but I found it simply wonderful.
Goodbye Love ~ 1933 -BW
QUICKIE: It's hot potato played with gold-digging, alimony seeking ex-wives.
PLOT: A sexy golddigger lands who she thinks is a wealthy big-game hunter from a royal family. What she doesn't know is that not only is he not wealthy, nor a big-game hunter nor from a royal family, but he's only a butler. Complications ensue as he tries to keep up the pretense. He returns home only to find this same woman marrying his boss. The pair scheme to fix it so he can get out of the marriage without owing her alimony, and also fixing his ex-wife's alimony situation as well.
SUMMARY: Apparently, people in 1930's high society have nothing better to do than marry and divorce each other as some trade stocks on Wall Street. This film could easily annoy any feminist, as women are portrayed as nasty, money hungry ingrates, and no one ever marries for love. The film is mainly about the men trying to get out of their alimony situations, while simultaneously romancing new gold digging floozies. It's silly and scheming, but don't take it too seriously.
Country Gentlemen ~ 1936 -BW
QUICKIE: I keep trying to get out but you keep draging me back in you in lousy, dirt-bag-crumb (but we're rich!) good ol' pal o' mine!
PLOT: After being run out of town for trying to sell worthless goldmine stock, two conmen breeze into the small town of Chesterville, where they find themselves accused of kidnapping a young boy to whom they offered a ride. When that misunderstanding is cleared up, the two conmen hatch a plot to unload all their worthless paper on the gullible citizens of Chesterville and swindle the soldiers at the local army base out of their million dollar bonus.
SUMMARY: Oh gosh, this movie has it all. The stupid blonde, the dumb slapstick crook, the crook trying to go straight, soldiers by the handfull, gangsters, a car chase, motorcycles, a love interest, kids, dogs, money, big business, oil, police, misunderstandings, and the big happy ending where everyone is miraculously rich. Again, you'll have to suspend reality to enjoy the movie and leave most of your intelligence at the door as well. The slapstick con man is annoying with his blatant stupidity and how he keeps dragging his "friend" into cons that he's trying to go straight from. Why the hero doesn't just walk out and leave him is beyond my comfort level.
The bad con sets up an office, buys a field and starts to drill for oil. He makes his friend a partner in the whole affair without his consent and before you know it, they're in too deep to get out. Once the local gangsters and the soldiers find out it's all a con they come gang handed after the two cons, tie them up, carry them to the oil well, and throw dynamite down the well. This of course makes it gush oil, causing the lynch mob to instantly befriend the crooks again. Just at that moment the sheriff shows up to tell them there's been gold discovered in their gold mine. Everybody's rich. I don't believe it. I was never annoyed at a happy ending before, but here it was just too dumb and impossible to take seriously. But, "it's only a movie".
IMDB has a user review that talks about other "Olsen and Johnson" films, which leads me to believe this was a popular comedic paring in the movies. This was my first exposure to this duo and sadly, I wasn't very thrilled. It may just be that the plot annoyed me. There was some good comedy and some very funny lines that did make me laugh, but I was more annoyed than amused by the stereotyped characters.
The Sin of Harold Diddlebock ~ 1947 -BW
QUICKIE: Two men dangle out the window of the 5th floor suspended only by a lion, and other amazing feats brought to you by Mr. Diddlebock's bender.
PLOT: Twenty years after his triumphs as a freshman on the football field, Harold is a mild-mannered clerk who dreams about marrying the girl at the desk down the aisle. But losing his job destroys that dream, and when he finds a particularly potent drink at his local bar, he goes on a very strange and funny rampage (with a lion in tow).
SUMMARY: This movie stressed me out to no end. Diddlebock gets fired because he's a lame-O, boring bookkeeper. He gets over 2 grand from his retirement fund and a gold watch. Out he goes onto the street, and as a drifter talks him into having his very first drink, we cringe knowing the loss of his life savings is imminent. But we're pleasantly surprised as Diddlebock's enthusiasm explodes out of 20 years of suppressed genius and joy. He runs around screaming and over reacting to everything for the rest of the film.
Diddlebock manages to make $15,000 betting on horses, buys a ridiculous checkered suit, a month's of service from a horse and carriage, and a circus. Once he sobers up he discovers the circus is in huge financial trouble. So Diddlebock schemes up a plan to interest bankers to buy the circus off him by taking the lion to the banks, drumming up attention. There's real stupid slapstick humor here and when they hang off the side of the building suspended only by the lion, I was squirming with uncomfortableness the whole time.
There's the great cliche happy ending as Diddlebock discovers that during his bender he married his true love, and Barnum & Bailey buy the circus for $175,000. Rich, famous and married, Awww.
Margaret Hamilton (Wizard of Oz) has a small part as Diddlebock's sister and Rudy Vallee makes an appearance as well. But I was mostly captivated by the lion. And the constant yelling. Still, a good film with many funny bits and very daring stunts.
Wake Me Up When the War is Over ~ 1969 -colour
QUICKIE: Eva Gabor kidnaps a soldier and makes him her love slave!
PLOT: Ken Berry (F Troop) plays American soldier Lt. Roger Carrington. During WW2 he accidentally falls from a plane into Nazi Germany. Luckily, he lands at the lovely Baroness Marlenes' (Eva Gabor- who is only briefly shown in something other than lingerie) estate. The Baroness hides Ken from the intermittent Nazi house searches performed by Mayor Erich Mueller played by Werner Klemperer, who is best loved for his role as Col. Klink in Hogan's Heroes. The lonely Baroness refuses to tell Ken when the war ends, preferring instead to pay the locals to dress up in their old Nazi uniforms and search the house for Ken once a week. Since Ken can't understand German, he lives in ignorance that the war is over. Things get even funnier when after the war, the Baroness hires servants like Eva (Danielle De Metz), who help Ken escape the estate. Since Ken can't speak any German, things go from bad to worse when he tries to make it out of Germany. Jim Backus (Thurston Howell from Gilligan's Island / Mr Magoo) plays an American Col. looking for Ken. Executive Producers are Arron Spelling and Danny Thomas, so you just know you're in for something stupidly silly.
SUMMARY: The movie starts with some fascinating reel footage of WW2. Amazing to see that. Aside from the seriousness of the reel footage, this is a really silly movie. You must suspend your belief that Ken wouldn't learn ANY German during his five years of being a love slave to the Baroness. Sure, she spoke English, but radios, newspapers, books?.... five years is a looooooong time to be fooling around. But then again, it is Eva Gabor. This movie is just silly and fun. It's that special brand of humor from the 70s where people are over energetically stupid and everything they attempt to do (blow up a tank, destroy a bridge with dynamite, drive a sidecar motorcycle) fails miserably. There's still the cliche happy ending though, as Ken gets saved by the American officers and Ken and Eva get married. Aww. Grab a couple beers, make some popcorn, and have a silly laugh.
Beat The Devil ~ 1953 -BW
QUICKIE: Dahling, you meet such interesting people when you travel!
PLOT: A bunch of swindlers are detained in Italy while their steamer is being repaired and they hook up with the Chelms, who are very British. While waiting on the repairs, there is much scheming, drinking and indescretion going on. The six passengers eventually set sail for Africa, presumably to sell vacuum cleaners but actually to buy land loaded with uranium. Mr. Chelm, who plays a bumbling, neurotic idiot destroys the oil pump on the ship, and all must abondan ship. Somehow Mr. Chelm is lost at sea and the rest of the group lands on the coast of Africa and is immediately arrested. The swindlers bury their passports so as not to be discovered and interrogations ensue. Our hero (Bogart) fixes it so the swindlers are arrested and him & the ladies go free. The movie ends with Mrs. Chelm receiving a telegram that her husband has gone ahead and purchased the uranium rich land, making them rich in the end.
SUMMARY: Wow this is a great movie. The cast alone is spectacular, I mean it's Bogart and Peter Lorre for starters! We also get Jennifer Jones, Gina Lollobrigida, and Robert Morley. Writen by Truman Capote, directed by John Huston who also directed Moulin Rouge (1952), African Queen and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre amongst other gems. See, every once in awhile we get a public domain film that is truly exceptional, and this is one of them.
It's also surprisingly funny with some great dialogue, such as this:
Billy Dannreuther: I've got to have money. Doctor's orders are that I must have a lot of money, otherwise I become dull, listless and have trouble with my complexion.
Gwendolyn Chelm: But you're not like that now, and you haven't any money.
Billy Dannreuther: It's my expectations that hold me together.
Gwendolyn Chelm: Harry, we must beware of these men. They are desperate characters.
Harry Chelm: What makes you say that ?
Gwendolyn Chelm: Not one of them looked at my legs!
Charming! A really great film from start to finish.
The Great Rupert ~ 1950 -BW
QUICKIE: The best, most heart warming movie you will ever see. It is so fabulous it makes me cry with glee.
PLOT: A Christmas Wish is a heartwarming holiday classic about a New York family (led by Durante) who is down on their luck at Christmas time. Shortly before Christmas, they move into a ground floor apartment where Rupert the squirrel lives in the attic rafters. Just when it seems that the holiday will come and go without so much as a Christmas tree, Rupert acts as the family's guardian angel, not only saving Christmas, but changing their lives forever. The film is enlivened with the warmth and sweetness of an unforgettable love story between Terry Moore (of Mighty Joe Young) and Tom Drake (of Meet Me in St. Louis). Rupert the Squirrel (created using George Pal's Academy Award winning animation technique) will charm young and old alike. Jimmy Durante shines when he sings Jingle Bells and other well-loved Christmas carols in the evocative voice that made him one of America's recording legends.
SUMMARY: I'm not the biggest Jimmy Durante fan, but here he is genuinely good and sweet. This movie is just so darn good that even a month after seeing it, I get teary eyed with joy. The ending is so fantabulous with everybody becoming rich, famous, beautifull, successfull, married and on and on. It's gushing miracles, love and joy, and it's just wonderfull. This movie will cheer you up immensely. I need a kleenex.
