Love Letters (1945) Film Review - Jennifer Jones, Joseph Cotten

Plot Summary - POSSIBLE SPOILERS - - - Romantic mystery/melodrama starring Joseph Cotten as Allen, a soldier off to war in Italy who has been writing love letters to a girl back in England named Victoria - thing is, he is writing them on behalf of his buddy Roger and Victoria has fallen in love with the letters AND the man who has written the letters (who she believes is her man Roger!). Oddly, Allen has fallen in love with Victoria too, a woman he has never seen or met. Well, Roger goes back to England and marries her, Allen is wounded in action and comes home only to find out that his friend Roger was killed in an "accident". Meanwhile, Allen has inherited a country house in Essex and arrives to live at the mysterious old house, complete with charming/eccentric (whichever way you want to look at it) old caretaker (Cecil Kellaway). Coincidentally, in a nearby village is where his love that he has never met - and his obsession: Victoria - happened to live - - but when he visits one day he is told she is dead. POSSIBLE SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS - - In London he meets and falls for a beautiful woman named just "Singleton" (Jennifer Jones) who has amnesia and can't remember anything about her past. But her friend Dilly knows the truth - which is told to Allen - Singleton is Victoria, who was in prison for a year for the murder of Roger and lost all memory of her past after the incident. Allen and Singleton fall in love and get married, though Allen is told that she must not be told the truth of her past, but the memories gradually start to come! How will this affect their romance, and will she ever find out that her Alan is the one who really wrote the love letters?!

Review - Okay, this film is about as soap opera-ish as you can get - very entertaining, though very predictable (though I may have seen this a long, long time ago and the memory of the film was somewhere in the back of my head). I liked the sort of mysterious background music and sweet, dreamy-eyed "Portrait of Jennie"-like acting style of Jennifer Jones in this. Neat house the Joseph Cotten character goes to live in in Essex. Joseph Cotten is one of my favorites, as is Jennifer Jones - I enjoy them paired with each other, they have a lot of chemistry together. Well, it seems rather far-fetched to think that a couple would fall in love just based on letters, yet they are both so attractive when they meet - why wouldn't they fall in love for real?! Rating - 8.5 to 9/10 stars

17 Again (2009) Film Review - Zac Efron

Plot Summary - Fantasy-comedy about Mike (Matthew Perry), a thirty-something father of two teens who feels disappointed with his life - going nowhere in his job in pharmaceutical sales (they promote a bimbo - working there only two months - instead of him, a 16 year employee!) and on the brink of divorcing the wife he married after getting her pregnant his senior year in high school. Oddly, he is given a second chance when he visits his old school, encounters a strange janitor, and soon has fallen off a bridge and into something pretty weird - his body has become seventeen again (you knew that was coming!), but inside he's still the same man. Okay, now a teenager, Mike (Zac Efron), decides that this is his chance to try and do his life over - he decides to "go back to high school". Living with his longtime pal Ned, a sci-fi/fantasy geek to the core (you should see this guy's house!), he recruits Ned to pose as his "dad" and sign him up for school. Ned falls for the attractive female principal and Mike hopes to gain the success he once missed out on by joining the basketball team. But here's the twist - Mike's two teenage kids, Alex and Maggie, attend the same high school and he finds himself getting to know the kids he never really knew - and helping them out with their problems. Alex is being taunted by a bully, Maggie happens to be dating said bully (a real jerk). And meanwhile, Mike comes over to his new "friend" Alex's house and meets his mom (Leslie Mann), Mike's soon to be ex-wife, and he begins to see a side of her he had forgotten. Thing is, she thinks he's a teen!

Review - Okay, I thought this film was quite good, funny - very entertaining. I do always enjoy these sort of films - Freaky Friday, Big, etc. - body switching, age changing fantasy, that sort. This features lots of comic scenes involving Mike acting towards his children like a father - but they think he's just another kid at school, creating weird situations. Same with his relationship with the mom, he acts more like her husband than her son's friend. Mix-ups, confusion, it's all amusing. The film also features comedy in the form of an older man trying to think, dress, and act like a teenager. Rating - 9/10 stars

Love on the Run (1936) Film Review - Clark Gable

Plot Summary - MGM romantic comedy about a reporter on the trail of a runaway bride (hm- doesn't that sound familiar?!). Mike Anthony (Clark Gable), reporter for the New York Chronicle, is in London to cover the story of debutante Sally Parker (Joan Crawford) and her wedding to a Russian prince named Igor. But running into her as she's running away on her wedding day, Mike enters her hotel room, comforts her in her tears, and offers his help - the two run off together, disguised as a Baron and Baroness, steal their small plane and oddly manage to fly all the way to France though, apparently, Mike has never flown a plane before! Now Mike is after getting "the biggest exclusive story of the year" for his newspaper, as the two are on the run. Barney (Franchot Tone), a rival reporter and semi-chum of Mike's, is chasing after the two like a bloodhound to get his own story - and also in hot pursuit to catch them is the Baron and Baroness, actually phonies, spies who are after this map that was found by Mike and Sally in the plane. At one point, Mike and Sally end up hiding away spending the night in a huge palace run by a crazy caretaker who thinks they are ghosts (and actually has a pet invisible dog friend). Mike and Sally's obviously approaching romance sparks here, but when Sally finds out he is a reporter, she leaves him. More troubles to come as they are soon at the end of the guns of the evil Baron/Baroness couple (better known as Mr. and Mrs. Frankenstein).

Review - Okay, this film is sort of so-so with lots of stuff that doesn't really make that much sense - why is Mike so mean to rival reporter Barney, yet they are bunking together in the same hotel room at the beginning of the film? Why does Sally not even scream or wonder that much at a strange man entering her hotel room, even if he does look like Clark Gable? Of course, the plane flying sequence is pretty absurd - they can barely get the plane off the ground without killing a whole crowd of people but manage to fly to France, fearlessly, I might add! What is good in the film is three great stars of the golden age in one film - all doing a pretty good job of it too. Of course, Franchot Tone is one of my personal favorite actors from that era, though I would rather have seen him in the romantic lead than this sort of thankless role as Mike's object of tricks to get rid of him (locking him in the back of a truck, leaving him in the lurch with the bill unpaid in a French restaurant, tying and gagging him with the enemy in the next room, stuff like that). Saw this one before, but it just wasn't memorable enough for me to realize until halfway through the film. Similarities to "It Happened One Night (1934)". Rating - 6.5 to 7/10 stars

Forsaking All Others (1934) Film Review

Plot Summary - Three friends since childhood in a love triangle - Mary (Joan Crawford) has been in love with Dillon (Robert Montgomery) since they were kids, Jeff (Clark Gable) has been in love with Mary since they were kids. Jeff arrives back in town from Spain with plans to ask Mary to marry him, until he finds out it's the day before Mary's wedding to Dillon! Mary seems to see Jeff as a sort of pal/uncle and asks him to "give her away" (she also sits on his lap, her "favorite seat in town" - okay, what's that all about?). Oddly, Dill runs off that night with former girlfriend Connie, a bitch who arrives to seduce him and he inexplicably bites, leaving Mary at the alter! Whoa. She runs off to stay with a friend (Billie Burke) in the Adirondacks and is soon quite the sports gal. Mary and Jeff are invited some weeks later by Connie to attend a party being thrown by herself and new hubby Dillon. Mary decides to go and spit in their eye sort of speak, as she means to look on her ex-fiance as "last year's hat". Well, that fails - married man Dillon keeps calling her and they finally get together for a fun day in the country with hamburgers, bicycles, and hi-jinks - still in love. They end up having to spend the night in the Adirondacks house, but no funny stuff (you know what I mean, this is the thirties). Jeff pretty much has backed off, as Dillon and Mary begin their romance again - what's next for these three?!

Review - This is a cute film, boosted up by three top stars of the thirties. I like the clip in the opening credits where the three walk towards the camera - her in bride dress, the two men dolls in top hat and tails. I did watch this to see favorite Robert Montgomery - woo, though his character is sort of a charming cad (don't really like to see him like that). Pretty good, fairly predictable, typical thirties light romantic comedy. Rating - 7.5 to 8/10 stars

Our Mother's House (1967) Film Review - Dirk Bogarde

Plot Summary - Dirk Bogarde stars in this very strange, unusual British film about seven seemingly fatherless children whose mother dies and the kids, not wanting to get sent to the orphanage, bury her in the garden and continue to live on, attend school, etc. without telling anyone about her death. They build an odd shrine in the garden complete with her bedroom furniture and hold "Mother Time" prayer meetings - actually, more like seances as the oldest daughter (Pamela Franklin) contacts the mother and relays advice to the kids! The bunch start to go out of control a bit, forging mom's signature and cashing her weekly "check" at the bank, and dealing out harsh punishments like cutting off the long hair of the eight-year old-ish daughter. When the girl gets ill after the brutal haircut incident, they won't call a doctor - but the middle girl (family leader actually) gives the scoop that they actually have a father, a real beast apparently, and one of the boys contacts the man. Arriving on the scene one Charlie Hook (Bogarde), cockney horse-race gambler with a passion for women and hard drink. He takes over the family, the kids start to run wild, the middle daughter completely doesn't trust him - and with good reason as he secretly starts taking money out of the mother's savings account.

Review - Okay, this movie IS kind of weird and strange, but it's quite well done and memorable. I have seen this quite a few times before, but not in a number of years - I still remember that hair cutting scene, poor girl. The film has a sort of dark, gothic feel to it - school uniforms and large, rundown Victorian house adding to the atmosphere. Okay - what's with Dirk Bogarde's Moe-like haircut in this - seriously though, he's great as usual. Though Charlie isn't meant to be any kind of father figure, he comes across as really having a ball with these kids - I believe because Dirk Bogarde himself enjoyed making this film and working with the kids, it really does come across. Mark Lester appears in this film in the role of cute little stuttering Jiminee, expert at forging signatures! A memorable little music tune runs through this film that I still remember weeks later. Rating - 9/10 stars

The Servant (1963) Film Review - Dirk Bogarde

Plot Summary - Unusual UK drama about a well-to-do young bachelor, Tony (James Fox), just returned from Africa, who hires a live-in manservant named Barrett (Dirk Bogarde) to work for him in his newly acquired London apartment. Barrett, seemingly the perfect gentleman's gentleman, takes pride in his cooking (especially his souffles), is knowledgeable on decorating (so advises on the decoration process for the new digs), is well groomed and well dressed. But as the film progresses, you oh so subtly see a sort of dark side to Barrett. Soon a conflict arises between Barrett and Tony's rather bitchy fiancee (Wendy Craig) who is really pretty rude to Barrett and wishes he could "live out". Barrett brings his "sister" Vera (Sarah Miles) in as the new maid, but it's pretty obvious that she's not exactly sisterly towards him - meanwhile, sexy Vera seduces vulnerable Tony and he's completely smitten, but when Vera and Barrett get caught in the act together, in Tony's bedroom no less, they are sacked. Barrett is not one to give up easily and soon has begged and lied his way back to work as Tony's manservant - and soon a very odd relationship has developed between the two men as the roles of master and servant have seemingly flipped.

Review - Filmed in black and white, with interesting, stylish photography (a number of shots taken into mirrors, stuff like that). Dirk Bogarde gives a great performance in this film - well, he's always good! One of my favorite actors - and very handsome to look at, I must say. The print of this, as screened on TCM, looked very good. Rating - 9/10 stars

Doctor in the House (1954) Film Review - Dirk Bogarde

Plot Summary - British comedy following the adventures of handsome, young Simon Sparrow (Dirk Bogarde) and his five years as a medical student at St. Swithins Hospital, London. From his arrival for his first term at medical school, lost, late to his first lecture, but soon shown the ropes by three students who keep returning year after year from failing their exams. These return students are more interested in girls, football, and the local pub than actually becoming doctors, it seems. Simon acquires living quarters at a boarding house where he is chased by the landlady's daughter, an aggressive and beautiful blonde - our Simon wants none of that so moves in with the three fellows into their messy rooms, complete with female fiancee of one of the guys who seems to share the bathroom. As our men progress through the school years we see them deal with practicing on patients, exams, women, stern doctors, and an even sterner nurse in the form of Sister Virtue. His friends try to find Simon a girl, he's more interested in his studies but does go out on a few failed dates, finally actually ending up liking a pretty nurse named Joy.

Review - Slapstick-ish comedy includes a skeleton on the bus and rescue of the school mascot (hideous stuffed gorilla) through the streets of London. Amusing, entertaining film boosted up by wonderful Dirk Bogarde, one of my personal favorites. Amusing comedienne Joan Sims appears in the tiny cameo role of nurse "Rigor Mortis", hehe. Filmed in Technicolor, with lots of location scenes in London - the print, as screened on TCM, looked nice. An enjoyable watch, I haven't actually seen this one in many years. A fun romp. Rating - 8.5 to 9/10 stars

The Soloist (2009) Film Review - Jamie Foxx

Plot Summary - Los Angeles Times reporter Steve Lopez (Robert Downey Jr.), hanging in Pershing Square, meets a homeless man named Nathaniel (Jamie Foxx) who talks to himself in nonsense streaming sentences and plays the violin on the streets of L.A., and it turns out he was once a music student at Julliard, several decades before. Lopez decides to devote his weekly column to this man, tries to find out what lead him to this down and out state, and tries to help him. After the first column, a reader sends Nathaniel her cello, Lopez finds him a shelter where the instrument will be safe, and eventually finds him a small apartment. But what he really wants to do is help cure Nathaniel of his mental illness/schizophrenia, though an unwilling Nathaniel makes that a hard nut to crack.

Review - Nicely photographed in the L.A. streets, including some interesting and colorful overhead tracking shots. Interesting story and very well acted by all - Jamie Foxx is particular good in this film. The scenes of Skid Row are odd, kind of scary, colorful, dirty and realistic looking. Rating - 8.5/10 stars

Fragments (2008) aka Winged Creatures - Film Review

Plot Summary - In a Southern California town, a gunman enters a diner/coffee shop and shoots victims at random; those left living through the ordeal are left living fragmented lives - stress and shock seemingly leading this small bunch to odd behavior patterns. First there's tween-age Annie (Dakota Fanning), struggling with the death of her dad in the incident, as she and her friend Jimmy (Josh Hutcherson) hid under the table they were eating at - - after the shooting, Annie becomes a religious fanatic, Jimmy won't talk. Then there's Charlie (Forest Whitaker), gunshot to the neck, wanders out of the hospital and straight to the Indian casinos where he begins a lucky gambling streak shooting craps. Waitress Carla (Kate Beckinsale) wasn't hurt physically in the incident, but begins to chase after the doctor who tended to the victims afterwards, who by coincidence was in the diner 20 minutes before the shooting. Meanwhile, Doc is busy sneaking drugs into his girlfriend's food to give her migraine headaches (huh?!).

Review - This film is well done and was fairly interesting, though the tale ended up being confusing with segments of the story that just never made sense or were explained. The film benefits from having a fine cast of actors and the style and on-location scenes look good. The plotline switches between the different characters and their reactions to this tragedy. The film also features Jackie Earle Haley as Jimmy's dad (pretty small role) and Jennifer Hudson as Charlie's daughter. Reasonably good, though flawed. Rating - 7.5/10 stars

De Luxe Annie (1918) Silent Film Review - Cinecon 45 Screening

Plot Summary - Silent crime melodrama. Julie and Walter Kendal (Norma Talmadge and Frank Mills) - she a sweetheart, wife and mother - he, a man interested in theories on crime, the causes and effects. Walter believes that a sudden shock can lead a person to a life of crime - his theory is about to be tested. One night he sets out to track a couple of baddies known as De Luxe Annie and Jimmy (Eugene O'Brien), who like to pull con games such as the "Old Badger" game and "De Luxe Book" game, on innocent victims. Walter undercover, arrives pretending he's interested in purchasing a deluxe edition of a classic book from Annie - the con underway, as Jimmy shows up pretending to be an angry husband wondering why a man is alone in the apartment with his wife; Jimmy asks for hush money to keep it out of the papers. Meanwhile, Julie at home has a nightmare her man is in trouble - so she heads over to help him, ends up knocked out from a fight with the bad people, then out into the night with amnesia - no memory of her past! Next thing you know she's cleaning rooms at a lodging house and happens to be cleaning up Jimmy's room, where she tries to steal a pile of dough and a watch - but he arrives to catch her holding his goods, and deciding she'd make a good little partner for his schemes, he recruits her to join forces with him to pull the De Luxe book game. So Julie heads into a life of crime, but still has vague notions in her head of a different past - she pinches a brooch she feels should be hers (and it was!), and in an action-packed finale Jimmie and Julie escape via ice skates to keep the hounds from tracking their scent, ending up at her own, forgotten house. Meanwhile hubby Walter has become aware that his wife has no clue who she is, and is pulling crimes - and he seeks to help her get the operation she needs to restore her memory.

Review - This is a worthwhile watch, a very melodramatic plot-line typical of the time period this film was made. There was some interesting photography and editing I noticed - one interesting shot I'm remembering is the superimposed image of Talmadge as Julie in one corner while she is having her nightmare. The print had some nitrate decomposition during one reel. Norma Talmadge, in this film, kept reminding me of current day actress Natalie Portman - very similar look. She does a very good job in her part in this film, I thought. AFTER NOTE: Okay - I recently saw the British film "Easy Virtue (2008)" and one of the actresses in this, Charlotte Riley, really did look exactly like Norma Talmadge - and now that I think of it, she was in the recent Brit version of Wuthering Heights, which I saw about a month before Cinecon 45 - it was her that I was reminded of while watching "De Luxe Annie". Rating - 8/10 stars

The Bride Comes Home (1936) Film Review - Cinecon 45 Screening

Plot Summary - POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD - - Screwball comedy love triangle. Grown-up wealthy girl Jeannette (Claudette Colbert) has to go to work 'cause her daddy's out of money. Her friend Jack (Robert Young) has just inherited three and a half million dollars and decides to start up a magazine - "The Man" ("for the working man") - with his brooding bodyguard Cyrus (Fred MacMurray) - hired for the last two years to finish all the fights that Jack starts. With a major crush on attractive Jeannette, Jack hires her to be Cyrus' assistant on the magazine. Cyrus thinks of her as just a rich society girl taking a job on a lark - so he treats her rough by giving her time-waster idiot tasks to complete, like counting names in the phone book. When he finds out she actually needs the job to eat - he feels bad, but the damage is done - she hates him. Well, in the way of all filmland - since she hates him, you just know they'll end up a couple. And so it is - despite all their bickering, they soon declare their love for each other. With plans to be married the next afternoon, she arrives at his bachelor apartment in the morning to find it a big, cluttered up, dirty mess. While she's cleaning up, Cyrus arrives early with the Minister (who is on a very tight time schedule) - but she's all dirtied up in housecleaning attire, won't marry him until she gets cleaned up, and a huge fight breaks out cancelling the marriage plans. Friend Jack steps in to lay claim to his longtime love - and, catching her on the rebound, she is convinced into marrying him. Now follows a wild race, screwball finale - with Cyril and Jeannette's dad racing on motorcycle to get out-of-town and to the home of the Justice of the Peace before Jeannette ends up married to the wrong fellow. Luckily Jeannette and Jack are in the process of being married by the slowest, most long-winded Justice of the Peace on record.

Review - With Claudette Colbert in the lead, it would be hard for this to not be a pretty good film - especially when you add on Robert Young and Fred MacMurray as her co-stars. The film is a nicely done romantic comedy with a bit of the screwball to it - - it is, oddly, a rarely seen film. One thing I must say though, I grew up on Fred MacMurray and Robert Young as father figure types being a young sitcom fan who spent lots of time watching old shows like "Father Knows Best" and "My Three Sons" - so it's still kinda hard for me to see these guys as romantic lead figures! The Justice of the Peace is amusingly played by Edgar Kennedy - and yes, he does his famous slow-burn in this. Rating - 8/10 stars

Two Nuts in a Rut (1948) Review - Comedy Short - Cinecon 45 Screening

Short comedy starring Schilling and Lane. After mistakenly lighting the end of the thermometer in his mouth instead of his cigar, a movie producer/talent scout gets sent to Palm Springs for a complete rest. At the resort hotel, he tells his assistant to keep it secret that they are Hollywood movie producers so that he doesn't get hounded by wannabee starlets. But - of course - the assistant lets it slip, and the girls are all over our man to get into the movies. So that he can finally get some peace and quiet, the hotel management changes his rooms to make it appear he has vacated the hotel - but everyone forgets to let him know! Meanwhile, a woman and her tough boxer hubby have checked in and occupied his old room. Of course our man arrives at his old room, immediately puts on his oversized nightgown (which actually belongs to the boxer), and gets into bed. Then just as the woman finds a strange man in her bed, boxer husband arrives punch-happy after a winning match, and our boy hides under the bed. Lots of slapstick to follow as she attempts to keep him hidden. This was screened at Cinecon 45 as a replacement for the Harry Langdon short "His Marriage Mix-up, which - in a mix-up - didn't arrive. This short was pretty funny, I must say - I laughed out loud several times. I can't say I've ever seen a Schilling and Lane short before - comedy team Gus Schilling and Richard Lane. Pretty darn good. Rating - 8 to 8.5/10 stars

Cinecon 45 Film Festival Summary - Movies, the Rest

Putting the other films I saw that didn't have a chance for a full writing.

Marker - coming

The Silencers (1966) Film Review - Cinecon 45 Screening

Plot Summary - Swinging 60s spy comedy. Suave secret agent Matt Helm (Dean Martin) is called away from his 60s bachelor pad by his company ICE to get on the job chasing after some sort of crime organization, the gist of what they are up to escapes me at the moment. On his travels on this job, he - well, basically hooks up with curvaceous women - first a tall bombshell, then a kooky redhead (no, not Lucy) he meets poolside - she's a curvy klutz named Gail (Stella Stevens). Then there's also that dancing stripper (Cyd Charisse) who gets shot while performing onstage. While dying, she slips something to Gail - then Matt and Gail end up on a road trip together; she denies she's a secret agent for the other side but Matt and his bureau think she is. Helm is given a couple of cool, spy weapons by his agency to help him out when he comes against the bad guys - a backwards shooting gun and jacket with hand grenade buttons. This all comes in handy in the action-packed finale.

Review - Spy films are one of my least favorite film genres, so wasn't sure how I would like this one - but it turned out to be a lot of full color, widescreen fun! The film spoofs spy films like James Bond and includes action combined with comedy, plus lots of scantily clad, gorgeous women, sixties music, and Dean Martin driving along, his thoughts brought to life via smooth Dean Martin vocals. Cyd Charisse opens the film performing a striptease to the title theme song. I loved all the devices and mod sixties gadgets that fill out his "love nest" - a round, rotating bed that at the push of a button rolls across the floor, tilts up, and sends prone Matt Helm rolling into a giant lather-filled bathtub where dwells his "secretary", Lovey Kravezit - when he asks her to hand him the soap it contains a bottle of liquor. He also has a full bar set up in his car! I think seeing this on the big screen, at Cinecon 45, really helped this seem better, made it more "larger than life" which seemed to work for this film (it also seemed like the males in the audience were really appreciating all the sexy women in this) - don't know how I would feel about this one on a TV screen. Stella Stevens appeared in person at this screening. Review - 7.5 to 8/10 stars

Sunday Notes

Well, nearly two weeks now since I first got this flu/cold - and I'm still sick! The last days I've kind of relapsed and feel worse than I did. Today, slightly better than yesterday. It's such a drag to be sick.
Anyway, I am still finishing up the Cinecon 45 reviews, slow-going still because I've been a bit bedridden last week, up and down sickness, ugh. I have several more films I'm finishing up the reviews for - then hopefully get them posted in the next few days. And then I still have a backlog of reviews for movies I saw in August to get posted.

Lover Come Back (1931) Film Review - Cinecon 45 Screening

Plot Summary - Precode sex romp. Tom (Jack Mulhall) is juggling two women - while dating Connie (Constance Cummings), the nice secretary who works at his office, he is secretly also seeing flirty Vivian (and Viv says to her overbearing mother after he leaves "In a week I'll have a ring on my finger - and another ring in his nose" - whoa!). Connie's boss (Jameson Thomas) is a smooth-talking playboy bachelor with an eye for a shapely ankle; believing that a woman with ankles like hers shouldn't be hiding them under an office desk, he has already made an offer to her to be set up in a Park Avenue Apartment (and we all know what that means!), which Connie has turned down 'cause 1. she's a good girl. and 2. she's in love with Tom. But when Tom dumps her to marry Vivian, Connie decides to accept the offer! Life after marriage to Viv: - - Vivian decides her man isn't providing for her needs well enough - she wants a fancier wardrobe (she's tired of being dressed like a "shop girl") and a limousine. Against Tom's wishes, she goes to the office to ask his boss for a raise for her man - and, well, she's got shapely ankles too, so the boss not only offers a raise, but a promotion for Tom - which will mean Tom taking lots of trips out-of-town and "private" get-togethers with sexy Vivian. Vivian is all for it. But Tom is soon onto what his wife is up to, and old girlfriend Connie (who still loves him and doesn't want him to get hurt) tries to protect him from finding wifey Viv in a tryst with the boss.

Review - This film is a really fun watch - lots of pre-code dialogue and sexual innuendo flying about through the entire film. I really, really liked Betty Bronson, who plays Vivian, in this film. Wow - perfection in this part, just a real well done, memorable performance - she's a super cutie. By the way, lots of cute outfits to look at in this (yeah, I like clothes a lot!). And another by the way - if what you see in films was actually real then Park Avenue must have once been absolutely loaded with ladies being "kept" as it seems like I've seen an awful lot of films lately with women being set up in Park Avenue apartments! Just a real good film all around - a treat to see. Rating - 9 to 9.5/10 stars

Turn to the Right (1922) Silent Film Review - Cinecon 45 Screening

Plot Summary - In a country town, Joe (Jack Mulhall) loves Elsie (Alice Terry) - but Elsie's father, Deacon Tillinger, doesn't approve of him and basically says he will horsewhip the young fellow if he comes around to see her. So Joe heads for the big city to seek his fortune. Soon involved in gambling on the horse races, he's actually been successful in saving up $2,000 in winnings! Joe decides to put all his winnings on a sure bet - "Firefly" at 10 to 1 - and, hey, Firefly wins. Unfortunately, a bad man has stolen 2,000 bucks from his own father's wallet and when the money is found missing, the blame is wrongly put on Joe who had oddly just placed a bet for the same amount. Joe not only loses his winnings, but is sent to the slammer for a year. Soon wearing stripes, he makes two prison buddies - Mugsy and Gilly - and doesn't let his family back home know what has become of him. Meanwhile, back home the greedy Deacon (he believes a "sucker is born every minute and the country is the place to find them") has convinced Joe's kindly old mother that it would be best for her to sell her peach farm to him and move into a shack. Joe and his two pals, all newly released from prison, end up back in town just in time to help get the property out of the clutches of the old cretin, and help make the farm a success - by using the peaches to make a fab jam! Muggsie and Gilly seem charmed by the town, especially when a couple of cute young gals spark an interest in them, and they decide to become "honest Joe's" as they all follow wise Mama's advise "just believe, and it will happen" - and it does!

Review - A rather charming, melodramatic silent film with touches of humor throughout - directed by Rex Ingram; the film is nicely photographed in a pretty rural locale complete with peach groves. I can't say Jack Mulhall is one of my favorite actors from the silent era, but thought he was actually appropriately cast in this particular role and did a nice job with the part (though, gosh darn, he's just lacking in the good looks department in my eyes). - - By the way, that man sure can pick the horses for a country boy! A pleasant, entertaining film. Rating - 8.5/10 stars

Only the Brave (1930) Film Review - Gary Cooper

Plot Summary - Civil War drama starring Gary Cooper as a Union captain who risks getting caught for desertion by leaving camp for 24 hours to visit his beloved, only to find her in the arms of another man. Bummed out on his return (and caught, by the way, though his punishment is not out-there harsh), he offers himself up to take a pal's place as a Union spy, which involves getting caught on purpose carrying fake dispatch papers, which will likely lead to sure execution by the Confederate army. Soon he's arrived at a Southern plantation full of Belles and Confederate soldiers indulging in dancing and the punch bowl. He makes efforts to get caught as a spy, but everything he tries - dropping his Union medal, refusing to participate in a toast, attempting to get caught in an office rifling through papers - fails! And meanwhile, plantation daughter Barbara (Mary Brian) - an ultra-flirtatious Scarlett O'Hara type Southern belle who's never been kissed - has been busy from his arrival trying to seduce him with her wiles. He ends up in her room at one point, where Barbara realizes he's a spy - but she's fallen for the handsome fellow and while he's doing his utmost to get caught by the officers, she's doing her best to keep him from getting caught! Eventually, he is caught and held prisoner despite her efforts, guarded by a grubby Confederate sentry who rambles on about what terrible creatures women are - when his guard leaves him alone to fetch himself some brandy, Barbara arrives and is caught kissing him. Will anyone be able to save the day for our man before he ends up facing the firing squad?

Review - I thought this was a pretty decent film - I normally enjoy Civil War era films, this one has a touch of humor in it to help spice it up. I liked the performance that Mary Brian gives here, with her cute Southern drawl. Gary Cooper is his tall, handsome, softly spoken self - always good. I actually didn't really think this film was as funny as some in the theater screening at Cinecon 45 seemed to think - I was quite amused by the loquacious sentry though. Not completely related to this particular film - - but hmm, I know people say that it's better to see films that are funny with a live audience - and it's true that sometimes I laugh more with an audience than a movie at home alone - but when I see a film and an audience is laughing hysterically at something that I don't find all so funny, it can just be annoying. A case in point, some action film with Eddie Murphy I saw in the early 80s (back when I saw ALL the new movies in a theater) and the audience was howling over car crash scenes and I was just left cold wondering why they thought it was funny. Excuse the ramble. Rating - 7.5 to 8/10 stars

Thanks for Everything (1938) Film Review - Cinecon 45 Screening

Plot Summary - POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD - - Henry Smith (Jack Haley) of Plainville, Missouri is declared the "Most Average Man in America" after winning a radio contest (sponsored by Puff Cigarettes) asking 100 poll questions. He becomes a hometown hero and starts to spend his $25,000 cash prize even before he's gone to NYC to be awarded it on the air. The powers-that-be behind the contest have decided our man would better serve their purposes if they could secretly follow his every move to get the dope on what the Average Man likes. So - they trick him into believing he has been disqualified, then hire him at the station so he can earn money to pay back what he owes back home. Jack Oakie is picked to room with him and take notes for use by research company Guidance, Inc. to make decisions toward what products to market. But Henry is distracted by girl troubles relating to his fiancee back home, and starts doing weird stuff that no average man would actually do (ketchup in his coffee, for one). When an ambassador wants to find out the statistics on whether the average man wants to go to war or not - Guidance, Inc. is on the job, and use poor Henry as the guinea pig. They get him sick via a poison ivy branch massage, then while he's bedridden and recovering they trick him with fake radio broadcasts and trick bombs outside the window to make him believe that War has started! When he finally races off to enlist, he's rounded up into the nut house where straitjackets are the norm.

Review - Okay, this felt like a B-comedy with a few songs - silly fun, nothing great, but mildly pleasant enough. However, the gist of the story revolves around men treating another man (our main character) badly, which just doesn't really make the film that endearing even if things do work out for him in the end - making him think he's lost his prize, infecting him with poison ivy, tricking him to think there's a War, all for the sake of their own profits - um, not so nice. Tony Martin appears singing the title song in this. I'm not sure how I really feel about Jack Haley carrying a whole movie - the actress who plays his girlfriend is out there forgettable. There are lots of thirties character actors to see in this, Charles Lane for one. A nice looking print, screened at Cinecon 45. Rating - 6.5 to 7/10 stars

Sunday Notes

Continuing with writing up and posting my reviews for the films I saw at Cinecon 45 last weekend - posting here. Slow-going on this because I have been down with a really bad cold and even worse cough that has been worse this weekend than it has been all week (I literally coughed ALL night last night - I am worn out). I went to bed early last night (7 pm) to try and get some rest, then got up early (7:30 am) and managed to watch a movie "High School Confidential (1958)" that I happened to just catch at the beginning on TCM (I enjoyed the film - lots of campy fun - though really was too sick to write up any sort of review for it).

Hopefully I will feel well enough soon to get to watching my Netflix rentals (I have two recent films, plus the new Criterion release of "The Last Days of Disco (1998)" waiting to be watched). I am going to try to watch George O'Brien in "Fig Leaves" soon, plus I have stacks of silents on DVDs that I haven't watched yet, including that new Murnau, Borzage and Fox box set - and when am I going to get to watching my Houdini set which I've had for awhile now?!! Hmm - not movie related, but when will I ever get to watching my "That Girl" sets (I have season 1 and 2, so far) - when I was a kid I thought it would be great to be just like Ann Marie (you know - long, dark hair, work as an actress/model, a cool apartment, a devoted boyfriend, and so many groovy mini-dresses you never had to wear the same one twice).

The Dawn of a Tomorrow (1915) Film Review - Mary Pickford

Plot Summary - POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD - - Sir Oliver, the richest and unhappiest man in the world, has been informed by his doctors that he is hopelessly not long for this world. Spunky slum girl "Glad" (Mary Pickford) is the poorest and happiest orphan in London - checkered cap "Dandy" is her beau, who has plans to go on a robbery with a couple of mates. But Glad tells him she won't marry him unless he takes the honest route in life, and at the last minute he drops out of the scheme. The crime is committed and a murder occurs in the process - his two "pals" pin the blame on Dandy, who now must seek proof that he didn't even participate in the crime. Meanwhile, Mr. Oliver is saved by young Glad, who has encountered him as he's just about to end it all in the river.

Review - A melodramatic silent film that is sentimental and quite entertaining - Mary looks lovely and completely lights up the screen the minute she comes skipping on in her first scene. The film, as screened at Cinecon 45, had Swedish intertitles and a live translation was done as the film was going on, which was done very well (though the voice-out-loud does sort of take away the dream-like quality I like about silent films, when I'm not reading the title cards myself). The print as screened was tinted and looked good (though a touch too green in some scenes?!). The mood of the story, and especially the style of the dialogue, is so reminiscent of "A Little Princess" by Frances Hodgson Burnett (a book I am pretty familiar with) that while I was watching the film I kept thinking - this must have been written by the same writer as "A Little Princess", everything Mary's character says (via title cards) is so similar to the main character in that novel. Sure enough - when the film ended I looked it up, and The Dawn of a Tomorrow was, indeed, written by Frances Hodgson Burnett. Mary Pickford, is perhaps, my most favorite silent actress - it was really not possible for me to not enjoy this. A treat to see this rare film. Rating - 8.5/10 stars

South of the Boudoir (1940) Review - Charley Chase Short

Charley Chase comedy short. Charley is offered a promotion, but in order to seal the deal his boss wants a home cooked meal - the same night as Charley's wedding anniversary, and the wife has already been told he's taking her to the Cocoanut Grove! When they are prepping the dinner in the kitchen, a fight breaks out as hubby breaks the dishes given to them by her mother - and wifey breaks the dishes given to them by his mother. She walks out and, while shopping, she runs into the boss and - unaware of who she is and obviously being some kind of a wolf - he invites her to dinner that night. Well, he ends up bringing her to her own home as his "date", and meanwhile Charley, in desperation to show his boss that he's a happily married man, has recruited a high-voiced gal he knows who works at some bar/cafe he frequents, to pose as his wife - and what do you think the wife thinks when she arrives to find a blonde wearing her dress?! Mix-ups and lots of slapstick to follow. Got some laughs out loud from this fun short - liked it lots. Charley Chase is great - by the way, if you like Charley, you might want to sign this online petition to release the Charley Chase Columbia shorts on DVD. (by the way, I signed this in June and haven't received any sort of junk emails or spam as a result, so it's safe.) Rating - 8.5/10 stars

Good Time Charley (1927) Silent Film Review - Cinecon 45 Screening

Plot Summary - POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD - - A ham actor named Charley (Warner Oland) thinks of himself as the next "Booth" but his theatrical troupe know him as "Good Time Charley". Hartwell (Montagu Love), the manager of the troupe, spends his free time hitting on Charley's attractive actress wife. One day, while Charley is on-stage, Hartwell's pursuit of her causes her to fall off a scaffolding and be killed. Poor Charley widowed - all he has now is his acting and his little 3-year old daughter Rosita. Cut to fifteen years later, Rosita (Helene Costello) is a star attraction in the show - a dancing and tumbling beauty. Bad man Hartwell has a grown son, described as a chip "of" the old block, who loves her. Hartwell, now a famous Broadway producer, hires Rosita to star in his show and she's soon a hit on Broadway. He refuses to take Charley into the show too - until he's forced to hire him in order to keep his star Rosita from quitting. After Rosita elopes with the son - Charley, thought of as "an old fossil", is kicked out right before his Opening Night debut. Oh dear! - things just go from bad to worse for him when, while forced to perform in rundown theaters to earn a living, he gets an illness and becomes blind. Out-of-work, but with a pal helping him out and money being saved towards a $1,000 operation that will cure him, he is visited by Rosita who has been pressed to ask her dad for money by her bum husband. Charley keeps his blindness and jobless status a secret from his daughter (he even goes so far as to tell her he is a huge success on Broadway) - and actually gives her his savings of 800 bucks, willing to sacrifice for her sake. And things just go downhill from there - for both Rosita and Charley too, until he ends up in an old actors home where Rosita is performing/helping out and the truth is finally revealed.

Review - An excellent silent melodrama, directed by Michael Curtiz - screened at Cinecon 45 with a very nice-looking print. The film includes some interesting photography and editing - notable in my memory is a tracking shot showing the different faces in the audience in close-ups as they watch Charley perform on stage near the beginning of the film. Also, Rosita's rehearsals for her Broadway debut are shown in an interesting montage of overlapping photography. The stand out, and what really makes this film such a good one, is the performance of Warner Oland as Charley, memorable and moving - he's just terrific, his eyes so expressive. Now, I have to say, I kept wondering why his character keeps insisting on keeping the daughter in the dark about his many problems - can't see why he doesn't just tell her about it from the start. Oh well, I guess that would have sort of nipped the plot in the bud. A quality film, well worth seeing - perhaps my favorite film screened at Cinecon 45. Rating - 9 to 9.5/10 stars

Strange Affair (1944) Film Review - Cinecon 45 Screening

POSSIBLE SPOILER AHEAD - - B comedy/murder-mystery in which an amateur crime solving husband and wife team, played by Allyn Joslyn and Evelyn Keyes, attend a banquet where a man at their table is suddenly found murdered sitting up in his chair. How did it happen? Our duo is on the case and a number of suspects come to light, including a mystery woman who sat at their table and turns out to secretly be the murdered man's wife! A sort of Thin Man film, without the cocktails. The thing that caught my attention more than anything else in this film was the wife's obsession with hats, so there's plenty of neat forties hats to look at - one piece of comedy in this film revolves around one of her hat's with a very long feather that keeps hitting men in the face (one man actually snips the end of it off). I actually have a collection of vintage hats and I have one from the late 40s/early 50s that has a long feather like that! Shemp Howard has a small, but funny part as a man who drives a laundry truck and keeps miscounting the towels while Allyn Joslyn is getting honey-do's from his wife via a Dictaphone. Cute film. Rating - 7/10 stars

Paid to Love (1927) Silent Film Review - Cinecon 45 Screening

Plot Summary - When the king of a small European nation needs a loan for his country, he seeks help from the Americans. A banker arrives from America to approve the loan and immediately bonds with the King over his shirt (King: "Why the hell don't you fix your shirt?" Loan Man: "How the hell can I?"). The banker feels that in order to approve the loan they need to make the royal family more popular - which could be accomplished if the Crown Prince were to get engaged. A problem: the oh so handsome Prince (George O'Brien) is supposedly shy and has a one-track mind - automobiles! Feeling that "two old fools are better than one", the King and the Banker head to Paris to try and find a female to seduce the prince and get his motor going for the ladies. The two end up in this Apache Dance Club in Montmarte, where ultra-bored nightclub Apache dancers put on an act for tour buses that stop and fill the club with Americans seeking a glimpse of the wild side of Paris - fights, knifing's, etc., are all faked for the benefit of the suckers. The two men find a prospect - Dolores (Virginia Valli), one tough chick sporting a bullet hairdo and small, sharp knife tucked in her garter. They offer her 50,000 francs if she succeeds in seducing the unsuspecting Crown Prince, then send her on her way to pull her wiles on him - but on arrival she oddly faints through the door of his house during a rainstorm, then wakes up to find herself in his bed with ALL her clothes removed and drying (hmm, is he really as shy as they say?!). She is unaware of his identity and because he's one of those European royals who likes to go about wearing a uniform, she believes him to be a soldier in the King's Guard. When she heads out to find her mark, Prince Eric (William Powell), playboy cousin of the Crown Prince, gets his cousin out of the way so that he can seduce Dolores - and she mistakenly believes that the man she begins to romance is the Crown Prince. She begins to discover what a creep Prince Eric is, while at the same time the actual Crown Prince IS interested and they start to fall in love - the rub, how can they allow a commoner like her to actually marry a royal?!

Review - Directed by Howard Hawks, I thought this sophisticated silent romantic-comedy was quite good. Entertaining, with a good touch of humor throughout - love a scene where Powell is peeling a banana while secretly watching Valli undress - yeah, priceless. Enjoyed the Apache Club scene too - amusing, fun stuff. George O'Brien is oh so fit and good looking - not completely my usual type, but wooo - he *is* cute. My one complaint would be that I would have liked to have seen him given a lot more to do in this film, his part is sort of bland and - not enough screen time! After watching this film I was thinking that it really deserves a DVD release, it certainly has many worthwhile qualities to it. NOTE: the Imdb and other sources list Virginia Valli's character name as Gaby, but I remember Dolores and that is what my notes say too. To try and confirm this I did find more than one online source that had the name as Dolores, so I'm going with that for this review. Rating - 9/10 stars

Give Out, Sisters (1942) Film Review - The Andrews Sisters - Cinecon 45 Screening

Plot Summary - WWII Andrews Sisters musical romp. A nightclub wants to put on a show starring the Andrews Sisters and the dancing teen troupe The Jivin' Jacks and Jills. Here's the rub - the leading female dancer, Gracie, is secretly an heiress under the guardianship of three middle-aged, spinster aunts who don't believe in someone in their clan showing their legs on a public stage. When a photographer snaps Gracie's photo and it gets plastered all over the papers, the news is out and the producers must get the permission of the aunts for her to dance in the show. One of the men behind the show goes to the aunts' house posing as a doctor and orders them into bed with fake illnesses and head bandages - at the same time The Andrews Sisters arrive at the house disguised as the three aunts to trick the producers into thinking they are giving their permission. Of course, the show does go on - and the aunts end up at a ringside table drinking Old-Fashioned's and soon finally give in as The Sisters and dancing troupers give out on stage.

Review - This fun and funny B musical-comedy kept me entertained. The singing and dance numbers are all enjoyable, especially The Andrews Sisters performing "The Pennsylvania Polka", and I totally got a kick out of the dance numbers performed by The Jivin' Jacks and Jills (including Donald O'Connor and Peggy Ryan) - there is also lots of humor throughout the film. I was particularly amused by the scenes with those three aunts - oddly, they wear what looked to me like 1880s/90s black dresses (were they wearing bustles?), though the trio don't appear to be much more than forty years old. The aunts think of the Old-Fashioned Cocktail as a glass of delicious fruit preserves (says one "I'm going to try the syrup") - hehe!. Okay, yes, I totally love musicals and found this to be an amusing, pleasant watch. For me, this one was the best of the several Andrews Sisters films that have been screened at Cinecon over the last few years. And gotta love the Forties - the youngin's always tried so hard then to be modern, cool and hip, always speaking the latest up-to-the-minute hep slang (well, I guess they still do). Cute movie. Rating - 7.5 to 8/10 stars

Hatter's Castle (1942) Film Review - Cinecon 45 Screening

Plot Summary - POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD - - Dark and brutal, with a likeness to both Scrooge and young David Copperfield's torment, Mr. Murdstone, black top-hatted James Brodie (Robert Newton) lurks about with cruel behavior towards family and co-workers alike - he's the meanest, most selfish man in town! He has built himself a castle on his income as town hatter, causing the townspeople to poke fun. He fires his shop assistant on one day's notice ("we're not married, you know" he growls), he treats his patient, trod-upon and sickly wife like a servant, he gets angry at his pretty and gentle daughter Mary (Deborah Kerr) for allowing an unwanted doctor (James Mason) in the house to treat the wife, and forces his teen son into constant study, chiding him for coming in second to a girl on some exam. Brodie is busy having an affair with a barmaid who has pushed her "brother", Dennis (Emyln Williams), for hire as his new assistant. This Dennis is very full of himself (and has lied about his experience, he's never even "ironed a hat") and when Mary comes into the shop, he comes on to her immediately (of course, dad is not at work when this occurs). When Brodie finds out his daughter picked up drops for her mother's illness from the forbidden doctor, he refuses to allow Mary to attend a ball (where both assistant Dennis and the doctor have plans to dance with her). Slimy Dennis goes to her house during the dance, while the parents are out, sneaks his way in with the lure of champagne, ballroom cakes, and music - and when the parents arrive back early, they hide in her bedroom. Well, this guy is no gentleman, and she ends up pregnant! Meanwhile, Brodie refuses an offer to buy the failing shop next door to him to expand his business - so the owner of said shop sells to a big hat emporium to get even. And thus begins the downfall of James Brodie (and that creepy Dennis gets his comeuppance as well) - with much tragedy to come!

Review - A well done, bleak and atmospheric British film, set in the 1870's. Robert Newton gives a fantastic, very memorable performance in this film - his character and speaking voice (and the piercing eyes under bushy eyebrows/cold-hearted/smirking and at the same time disgusted expression on his face) in this are haunting, just impossible for me to forget. James Mason's part in this as the doctor is not a large part, but has it's importance in the story - he looks very young and handsome, I must say. Deborah Kerr certainly holds her own here. A very well done recreation of a real-life storm and railway bridge collapse that occurred in Scotland in 1879 is featured as part of the movie's climax. The film as a whole is melodramatic and entertaining - really liked this one. (released in 1948 in the USA) Rating - 9/10 stars

Easy Living (1937) Film Review - Jean Arthur

Plot Summary - Screwball comedy starring Jean Arthur as Mary Smith, NYC working girl who ends up with a sable coat on top of her head as she rides the upper section of a double-decker bus as it drives by a penthouse where wealthy banker J.B. Ball - aka "The Bull of Broad Street" - has just tossed the coat out the window 'cause his wife spent 58,000 bucks for new fur (and boy is her closet full of it!). When Mary tries to locate the owner of the coat, she finds Ball and he not only tells her she can keep the coat but takes her to a shop to buy her a fancy new hat to replace the now feather-damaged one she is wearing - lucky girl. Now here's something weird - when she arrives at her job at a boy's magazine (where works a slew of old bitties) sporting the new fur hat and coat, she is fired, seemingly 'cause she took presents from some man! Meanwhile, the hat shopkeeper has come to the wrong conclusion and let's the world know that the famous banker Ball is keeping Mary Smith as a mistress. She is found and offered luxurious rooms (gotta love that tub!) at the floundering Hotel Louis to help bring in new business (and given a real break on the price - $7 a week, plus daily breakfast). With not much more than a nickel to her name though, she heads to a local Automat where the good-looking busboy (Ray Milland) - who, coincidentally happens to be the rich son of Ball, working in an effort to prove to dad he can be a success on his own - sneaks her some free food, gets caught by security, and fired. A fight breaks out in the Automat leading to the food compartments to all fly open with free food for the taking - oddly causing the (hungry?) masses to run wild and food to start flying! While she continues to be be given gifts like gowns as Ball's mistress, romance sparks between her and young Ball.

Review - Smart and stylish, with screenplay by Preston Sturges (yes, I'm a fan) this film is quite funny - with some slapstick, that really great Automat scene, and other humorous stuff that made me laugh out loud. Wonderful Jean Arthur is one of my favorite actresses from the thirties/forties - she is perfect for this role. Okay - Edward Arnold as J.B. Ball is absolutely great in this film - loud, aggressive, straight talking, really funny. Of course, I always enjoy seeing character comic actor Franklin Pangborn, who plays the hat shopkeeper, on screen. Ray Milland doesn't appear in this film perhaps as much as I'd like, but his charm is still showing. Now where can I go to one of those thirties Automat's - I wonder if there is still one in existence - hmm, here's an interesting site about an Automat history book.

Rating - 9/10 stars

He Fell in Love with His Wife (1916) Film Review - Cinecon 45 Screening

Plot Summary - Silent melodrama about married women Alida (Florence Rockwell) who leads a dull life sitting at home reading magazines and playing the harp - until - one fateful day when who should arrive at the front door, but her husband's wife of ten years (a real battle axe, I must say) and little girl. Bigamy! After her husband shoots the first wife's brother who is trying to strong arm him back to her, Alida escapes into the cold, dark night and ends up in the "poor house". The proprietor of this place has a buddy, James Holcroft (Forrest Stanley), who is a widower trying to run his farm on his own and is having trouble with a string of bad housekeepers. One is a slovenly, lazy old woman who can't cook and is caught throwing a dinner party for her relatives while Holcroft is supposed to be out of town. Another is a middle-aged blab who sits there rambling on to him while her tween-age daughter Jane does all the work. Alida is given a break and asked to become Holcroft's new housekeeper - but she worries that the neighbors will gossip when they see an attractive, younger female attending to his needs. So - and remember, this is 1916, so perhaps this isn't as strange a concept as it seems - she agrees to marry him, in name only, to hold back the gossip (the neighbors end up causing some trouble anyway!). Meanwhile Alida proves herself a great cook and housekeeper - and hey, she's kind of pretty and he's lonely and not bad looking either - they seem like they could be a match! And so - he starts to fall in love with his wife, and she with him. But trouble comes in the form of Alida's first hubby, who returns widowed and tries to force Alida to come back to him - with threats to kill her new man if she doesn't.

Review - Directed by William Desmond Taylor - partly known for his still unsolved murder in 1922. This film is a nicely done, entertaining step back into 1916 - a time period I love to see captured on film - the clothes, the furnishings, the past and it's charms. It is extremely melodramatic (especially the hand to the head, painful reaction Alida has when she finds out her man is a bigamist!), typical of films made in the teen era. I had to say something about the odd, memorable young actress who plays Jane - the character comes back later in the film to work in the house with Alida and actually proves a help in making our couple "a couple". The actress is extremely thin and wiry with large, awkward hands, and almost dizzy - like she's going to fall over (don't know if this was real, or meant to be a comic touch to the film). Near the end she gives a knowing look right into the camera - interesting. I really enjoyed this one (some cute cats in this movie, by the way). Rating - 8.5 to 9/10 stars

The Miracle Man (1932) Film Review - Cinecon 45 Screening

Plot Summary - POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD - - Pre-code drama about four con artists who join forces to pull con games on the streets to get people to hand over their money - John Madison (Chester Morris), his girlfriend/bad girl Helen (Sylvia Sidney), wisecracking, deadpan Harry (Ned Sparks), and The Frog (John Wray), who twists his body up Lon Chaney style to pose as a leg-dragging, deformed cripple. John must get out of town after pushing Boris Karloff over a stairwell - soon he's arrived in the small town of Meadville (reminded me of Peyton Place), where dwells "the Patriarch" (Hobart Bosworth), a faith healer with many local followers, especially the owner of the hotel where John has checked in. John makes plans for an elaborate scheme to rook dough out of the believers - and recruits his con gang to come to town to help pull it off. Helen arrives in town posing as the Patriarch's long unseen, innocent "grand-niece" (to pull off the deception she has to wipe off her heavy makeup, and boyfriend John says "now you look like you've never even seen a gin bottle" - hehe). She easily fools the Godly old Patriarch and moves in with him. Ned Sparks arrives sporting a fake cough - and The Frog drags himself to town too, both of them with plans to be "healed" by the Patriarch, then get money out of the suckers for a fake chapel. But when they arrive before the Patriarch to be healed, others arrive too - with real ailments - and a wheelchair-bound woman as well as a crippled little boy are both actually healed. Some of the con quartet begin to gradually become charmed by the town, the people, and the spirit of the Patriarch and change their evil ways.

Review - This is an excellent, moving film - it is set in a nice, small town, peaceful setting and was shown with a very good-looking print. I think Hobart Bosworth had some fun with his hoked-up part - I love him! Sylvia Sidney gives a very well done, memorable performance here - her face is so expressive. Robert Coogan, slightly plumpish younger brother of Jackie Coogan, plays the crippled lad - he's okay, though lacks the real charm that Jackie displayed on-screen. John Wray as The Frog - great job. Ned Sparks - gotta love him! Rating - 9/10 stars

Trial Marriage (1929) Film Review - Cinecon 45 Screening

Plot Summary - POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD - - - Silent romp about Connie (Sally Eilers), a flirtatious young beauty who, though engaged to Oliver (Norman Kerry) - her 13th fiance - is the Scarlett O'Hara of the flapper era as she comes on to all the men at the party, and as they surround her for a dance gushes "I can't dance with all of you - so I'll dance *for* all of you", then proceeds to dance the Black Bottom in wild fashion. Her cousin Grace (Thelma Todd) has meanwhile arrived with a catch draped on her arms - one handsome doctor known as "Thor" (okay, his look is a bit heavy on the lipstick, but hey, it's the silent era). The four go on a country picnic and Connie steals Thor - they then agree to a "trial marriage": if either of them is unhappy in six months, they will divorce and be friends (and Grace then turns to boring Oliver for her romance). Into the marriage and Connie is bored 'cause her man's a success as a doctor and keeps getting called on emergencies leaving her home alone (hmm, perhaps she needs a hobby). While the doctor's out, Connie heads next door to a big charity party where she's recruited to boost up profits by dancing in a tent marked "Men Only" - she becomes the star attraction in front of the drooling male audience until - mad Thor arrives and finds out what she's up to. He gets a divorce - but doesn't know that she's pregnant! Well, the four oddly switch partners - Thor marries Grace, Connie marries Oliver - and Thor is kept in the dark about his young son, who he later meets and wishes were his own - yet believes the boy is the son of rival Oliver. Nothing seems to work out for this bunch romantically and eventually the inevitable happens - guess.

Review - An entertaining, fun late silent romantic comedy. Good-looking tinted print, lots of cute outfits to look at on the females. Thelma Todd looks great in this film, she really sparkles - both the ladies do, actually. Jason Robards Sr., who plays Thor, is a stud (yes, I like men who look like that - slim and pale). SPOILERS AHEAD - - Something that made me wonder - in the end, when Thor is introduced to the child as his dad, wouldn't this have been rather traumatic for a young boy who has for several years (his whole young life) believed a different man to be his father?! Yet the whole thing is played as a happy ending - a happy family reunited at last. Cute film. Rating - 8/10 stars

Cinecon 45 Film Festival Review - Hollywood, California

Cinecon 45 Report - Well, here I am at home, back on the computer, and another Cinecon has come and gone (it all goes by so fast!) - I had a great time, as usual. Now here's the bad, nothing to do with Cinecon, just circumstances - - first, the weather was horribly hot for most of Cinecon (which is typical for Labor Day weekend, but yucky nevertheless). Second, I had to go home at four o'clock on the Saturday afternoon to attend a family obligation, so had to miss two films showing that evening I *really* wanted to see - the pre-code Afraid to Talk (1932) and silent film with Lon Chaney Broadway Love (1918) (I'm sad) - (I also missed The Last Bandit (1949) and Nightmare (1942), but since that was the late film I probably would have missed it anyway). Third, and this is the first time this has happened in the fifteen years I have been to Cinecon, I started getting a cough on Sunday but felt fine (I have had a sore throat for the last week plus, but attributed it to the bad smoky air that has been at my house from the wildfires) - on Monday morning I still felt fine but the cough was getting worse - by Monday afternoon, it seemed I had caught a fast-moving bug as I started to feel sicker and sicker as the afternoon went on until I finally just had to go home and miss the last movie (When I got home I tried a cure for myself - two Martinis and a shot of Slivovitz (white lightning!) - I'm sick, but not horribly bad today - it may have helped!). Here's a couple of good things - 1. the Egyptian Theatre, where all the screenings took place, didn't seem quite as freezing cold this year. 2. I didn't fall asleep during a single movie (and there is usually one each Cinecon).

My favorite silent film of the weekend (and I am very partial to the silents - I wouldn't mind if Cinecon screened nothing but silent movies!!): Good Time Charley (1927) starring Warner Oland - this was really good. Second favorite film: I also quite enjoyed Paid to Love (1926) starring handsome George O'Brien, Virginia Valli, and William Powell. I really did like all the silents screened except for, and now we get to my least favorite silent film shown, which was Spuds (1927), just not funny - too bad. My favorite talkie films were: Lover Come Back (1931), lots of pre-code fun, The Miracle Man (1932), a good watch, and Hatter's Castle (1942), Robert Newton's scary voice from this film is still in my head. Luckily, there was no real dud for me this Cinecon, but my least favorite talkie was: actually, the first feature film shown on the Thursday evening, Flame of Calcutta (1953) - though the Technicolor looked really nice, this just didn't catch me.

Here's this year's amusements or oddities as seen or heard on Hollywood Blvd - - the weird: there was a man who may have been homeless walking along with this bird hat thing on his head and he was sort of right behind me making these weird bird squawk noises (moved along faster to get away from him). The funny (well, not really): walking behind me at one point was a tourist man and his son - the son was reading all the names off the Walk of Fame stars as they walked along - at one point the kid said "Terence Stamp". Loud, Obnoxious Dad: "What did you say the person's last name is?" Kid: "Stamp, dad, Stamp". Dad: "Did you say Stamp?! Stamp? What sort of name is that for a guy to get stuck with, dude?! Stamp! What's his first name, Postage?!". Okey dokey. (Note: it starts to get kind of annoying walking along Hollywood Blvd with all those movie star tour bus guys pushing their leaflets and asking "Wanna take a tour?" every five feet! Musso and Frank's is one of my favorite restaurants, but think I'll be avoiding Hollywood for awhile).

The Cinecon bathroom phenomenon continues. Long lines at the men's room, no wait in the ladies's room. I heard women in the restroom commenting a number of times, quite happily, on this - while grumbles were heard while walking by the men's room line (sometimes snaking almost to the lobby). The only event I have ever been to where this happens.
Things I learned at Cinecon: 1. Some people don't seem to know how to turn off a cell phone. 2. Women seem to lose their memory when something shocking happens - like their husband has another wife, or they get beat up by a couple of con artists. 3. I find myself appreciating the comedy of Shemp Howard more and more as the years go by - I start laughing the moment he comes on screen now. 4. George O'Brien, though not exactly my personal "type", has got *It*. 5. Charley Chase is great (but I already knew that!). 6. Slut means "The End" in Swedish.

Full reviews coming for the films I saw over the weekend. Reviews are being posted on the Cinecon 45 page here.

*******

Convicted (1950) Film Review - Glenn Ford

Plot Summary - Arrested for knocking a man unconscious in a fight over a woman at the "Hawaiian Club" bar, handsome young Joe Hufford (Glenn Ford) is put under arrest after the man dies. That man ends up being the son of a political big-shot, and the District Attorney, Knowland (Broderick Crawford) steps in to give Joe his assistance, even though he is prosecuting the case himself. Unfortunately, Joe has a bad attorney and is sent up the river for five years in state prison for manslaughter. Soon he's marching into his cell with the other convicts, working in the prison laundry, and hanging in the yard with the other prisoners. A planned prison break goes wrong when a known squealer named Ponti causes men to be killed by the guards - luckily Joe, who wanted in on the break in order to see his dying father, was in solitary for hitting a guard. Meanwhile, D.A. Knowland has been assigned as new warden of the prison and tries again to help Joe. He gives Joe a job as his personal chauffeur, which mainly entails Joe driving around the D.A.'s pretty twenty-something daughter Kay (Dorothy Malone). Romance blossoms (of course), but Joe, being really just a good guy, doesn't do anything like try to kiss her or something - he hopes for parole soon and a chance to get a new career and new start. Meanwhile the prisoners are forming a plot to murder Ponti the squealer, currently being protected by the warden with a soft job and bed next to his office.

Review - This is an entertaining prison melodrama, full of your usual prison/convict type scenes - nothing unexpected, really (even down to the warden's pretty daughter - seems to me that sort of plot comes up again and again, wonder how realistic that really is?! - and she's living at the prison, no less - lucky men). Broderick Crawford - well, he's just - Broderick Crawford - aggressive, likable, really good playing a D.A. Glenn Ford is just - hmm, so swoon-worthy with his dreamy eyes - woo. I really could just watch him all day. Liked this one. Rating - 8.5/10 stars

Framed (1947) Film Review - Film Noir - Glenn Ford

Plot Summary - Film noir in which out-of-work mining engineer Mike Lambert (Glenn Ford), arrives in town in a runaway truck with no brakes. Going into a local bar, the La Paloma Cafe (with secret gambling club upstairs), he meets beautiful blonde femme fatale/cocktail waitress Paula (Janis Carter). When he gets hauled into court for reckless driving, driving without a license, etc. as a result of the truck accident, Paula bails him out and, soon drunk at the La Paloma, puts him passed out into a hotel room. But it seems our blonde has a scheme of her own, along with married boyfriend/bad guy Stephen Price (Barry Sullivan), vice president of the local bank. The two have formed a plot to embezzle a quarter of a million dollars from the bank, and Paula has been working at the Cafe in order to find a match for Stephen physically - the big plan is to drive a car with his double over a curvy steep cliff, run off together with the cops believing the dead man in the car is Price, then live happily ever after. With the "same height and build" as evil Stephen, our Mike is their man. And so begins the plan, as Paula befriends Mike, then tries to lures him into their evil web!

Review - This is a very entertaining watch, a crime drama with some twists, lots of fun scenes and a - yes - smouldering hot Glenn Ford to look at - um, love his softly spoken manner and dreamy eyes, oh my goodness. Janis Carter gives a well done performance as your typical film noir femme fatale who manipulates men to get what she wants. Very good film. Rating - 9/10 stars

Mr. Soft Touch (1949) Film Review - Glenn Ford

Plot Summary - Glenn Ford stars as Joe Miracle, first seen heading into San Francisco in a stolen car, a paper bag full of $100,000 cash on the seat. Seems he held-up the River Club, himself the former owner, but the club was taken over by mobsters. Joe meets up with friends, the Christopher's, a husband and wife, who have gotten him a ticket to get out of town day after next on a boat to Japan. Joe gets himself arrested for disturbing the peace so he can hide out in prison for a day, the cops mistake him as the husband Mr. Christopher (a wife beater, by the way) - but a young social worker, Jenny Jones (Evelyn Keyes), steps in and gets his sentence suspended, and Joe put into her custody. Off they go to stay at "Settlement House", a charity house for down and outers. Joe is soon putting up Christmas decorations, sleeping in the men's dorm (his gun tucked under his mattress), and helping with the neighborhood kids and street toughs (sort of like the Dead End Kids) at the house. Trying to keep himself hidden from the mob who are after him for the loot, Joe meanwhile is busy hitting on Miss Jones - but she thinks he's a married man!

Review - Cute film, all set around Christmas time so you could call this a holiday film. The film starts out looking like a film noir and later heads into sort of semi-comedy with just a touch of humor. Of course, I just love Glenn Ford - such a doll - so I pretty much enjoy all of his films. Evelyn Keyes is fine in this, though her part is a touch bland and the romance element minimal here. Rating - 8/10 stars

The Good Companions (1933) Film Review - Jessie Matthews

Plot Summary - Early British talkie about three characters from different areas of England and walks of life, plus a theatrical troupe who all end up together in the Midlands small town of Rawsley. Older man, Mr. Oakroyd (Edmund Gwenn), just sacked, leaves his family (who want to take in a boarder) and hits the road heading south. Bespectacled spinster-looking Miss Elizabeth Trant - father recently deceased and she left with a pound a week income is being pushed to become a companion to earn her living. She decides, instead, to blow her income, and takes off for an adventure to parts unknown. The third is Inigo (John Gielgud), young master at a school for "sons of gentlemen", who is caught poking fun at an old bitty who runs the school (she likes to serve the staff Sheperd's Pie and prunes). He is asked to resign, so off he goes on his own adventure. The three each run into a character or two while on their individual road trips - a banjo player, a runaway husband and mistress, and a couple of crooks. Soon all three have ended up in the same spot - Rawsley, where they meet up and immediately bond with "the Dinky Doos" - - a broken-down troupe of entertainers who have been stranded in Rawsley without funds. Miss Trant hits upon an idea - use the rest of her money to back the troupe for ten weeks. Luckily, our Inigo happens to be an amateur song-writer/pianist and is given a job with the troupe, and Mr. Oakroyd is also assigned to do "odd jobs". Soon the lot of them are on the road, with the troupe re-dubbed (good troupers one and all) "The Good Companions". Inigo and pretty girl singer Susie Dean (Jessie Matthews) fight, therefore you know they'll soon be sparking - meanwhile, with ambitions to become a "star", Susie asks him to write her a song. Success for both could soon be on the way!!

Review - Entertaining, pleasantly humorous tale, based on a successful stage play by J.B. Priestley. I watched this as a fan of Jessie Matthews - she's very cute and charming, as usual - her part in this film doesn't really get going until the second half of the film, then she pretty much becomes the starring role, dancing and singing a few songs too. I did found the accents (for a few of the characters) hard to understand, but a mild problem at that. Sir John Gielgud is SO young in this, barely recognizable from his films made during his later years, like "Arthur (1981)". Rating - 8.5/10 stars

Cinecon 45 Classic Film Festival in Hollywood is Coming!

Only one week until Cinecon 45 starts at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, California. This is a classic film festival I have been attending for quite a few years now - five days in the dark watching silent, classic, and early sound films, many are rare and unseen for years - hurrah, that's what I love, the rarer the better. I am particularly interested in silent films from the teen era and very early silent films from the early 1900s. This festival is a great time, something I look forward to every year - movies and more movies!

Here's the film schedule for Cinecon 45.

So what's caught my eye - He Fell in Love With His Wife (1916), Larry Semon in Spuds (1927), De Luxe Annie (1918) starring Norma Talmadge, Paid to Love (1927), starring George O'Brien (oh yes!), Turn to the Right (1922), directed by Rex Ingram, Afraid to Talk (1932) starring Sidney Fox, Broadway Love (1918) starring Lon Chaney, Trial Marriage (1929) with Norman Kerry and Thelma Todd, Easy Living (1937) starring Jean Arthur and Ray Milland (I love them both), and YES, for us Mary Pickford fans The Dawn of a Tomorrow (1915) - just to name a few. There are lots of other silents, as well as pre-code and talkies from the 30s and 40s to be seen.

Click here for Cinecon 45 - information, film line-up, celebrity guests

Page Miss Glory (1935) Film Review - Marion Davies

Plot Summary - Comedy in which a small-town, innocent girl named Loretta (Marion Davies) - dowdy in unflattering clothing, sensible shoes, little make-up, and a hat the completely covers her hair - arrives in NYC, her first trip to the big city. She gets herself hired on as chambermaid at a fancy hotel, the "Park Regis", and is soon cleaning rooms with her new sidekick, chambermaid Betty (Patsy Kelly). Soon the two are seen cleaning up the rooms of a couple of "floor crashers", con men Click (Pat O'Brien) and Ed (Frank McHugh), who are four weeks past due on their hotel bill and have been asked to vacate. Hearing of a radio beauty contest with a $2,500 cash prize being awarded for a photo of the "most beautiful girl", the two con-men go into their dark room and create a fake "composite" photo to submit. The photo of the girl who only exists in a photo "Dawn Glory" wins the contest. But now they are being chased down by the press, and various advertising sponsors who want to meet Miss Glory. Meanwhile, Loretta has developed a big schoolgirl style crush on world famous aviator, Bingo Nelson (Dick Powell), a rather dizzy (too many loop-the-loops, I guess), but good-looking flyboy. He arrives to stay at the Park Regis and falls in love with Dawn Glory's photo (while Loretta meets her dream man in person and swoons over him). Soon our flyboy has made an on the air proposal of marriage to Miss Glory (silly fellow) and Click and Ed recruit the maid Loretta to accept him over the air. Now here's the weird part - Loretta puts on a dress made to look like Miss Glory's in her poster, gets herself a "Dawn Glory" bob (the latest rage) and looks so much like the fake photo, she is recruited to play the part!

Review - Cute film, lots of silly fun. I love Marion Davies, she's SO funny and charming in this - and she really lets her hair down by appearing on screen for half the film in a maid's outfit, and dumpy appearance. Dick Powell is good in his part as the ditz aviator - they seem like a perfect match, actually. A number of well known character actors from the thirties also appear in this film - - and hey, Mary Astor is also in this, as the two con men's female sidekick/Ed's girl. Quite an amusing romp. Rating - 8.5/10 stars

Polly of the Circus (1932) Film Review - Marion Davies

Plot Summary - Pre-code melodrama starring Marion Davies as travelling circus girl Polly, "Queen of the Air", a flying trapeze artist who performs fifty feet up - with no net. POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD - - Polly is distressed when the "conservative town" they are currently performing in makes them pin bloomers over her circus posters to cover her tights. While performing she is distracted by an unruly patron who shouts something about the poster and she falls. Taken to the minister's house across the street, the doctor says she can't be moved because of her injuries, so she must stay on until recovered. Well, as it happens, John Hartley the minister (Clark Gable) is young, very handsome, and not opposed to marriage. Two months later, Polly is still there, barely in need of a wheelchair, now reading the bible and in pursuit of our young reverend - and a romance blossoms between the two. Troubles come when the local Bishop (C. Aubrey Smith), who also happens to be John's uncle, reveals he thinks Polly unsuitable to be a minister's wife and that she will ruin him - he proclaims his nephew will lose his church if they marry. They do get married, then have to struggle for money as our minister loses his church and can't find another one. He ends up taking a low-pay job selling bibles, and won't let Polly help by returning to her circus job. Polly thinks of desperate measures in order to get her man back into the church!

Review - This is an entertaining film, though I didn't see a lot of chemistry between Davies and Gable. There are interesting scenes of circus life in the earlier part of the film what with all the clowns, bearded lady, giant elephant in pants, and smart-talking circus dwarf as played by "Little Billy" - not to mention flying trapeze act, my favorite part of any circus. There is a quite funny side character in this in the form of the minister's really crotchety manservant, played by Raymond Hatton. I was thinking while watching this that it would have been good as a silent film (and it actually was done as a silent, starring Mae Marsh). Rating - 8/10 stars

Blondie of the Follies (1932) Film Review - Marion Davies

Plot Summary - Precode comedy/soap opera/love triangle starring Marion Davies as Blondie, NYC uptown tenement gal whose best gal pal Lottie (Billie Dove) gets a job in the Follies and has soon gone Park Avenue, wearing silver fox furs and very slinky robes (that seem just on the edge of popping open!) - apparently she's being kept by millionaire playboy Larry Belmont (Robert Montgomery). When Blondie goes to visit Lottie at her fancy Park Avenue digs, she meets handsome Larry and they hit it off, much to Lottie's distress. Soon Blondie is out on the town with Larry, getting drunk at a speakeasy, and worrying her family by staying out until dawn without phoning! Dad is mad. Larry thinks "she's cute", Blondie thinks the same about Larry (and me too!). But when Lottie declares her love for Larry, she also declares him hands off - Blondie, a good girl, backs off immediately. But that doesn't stop her from meeting her own older "sugar daddy", joining the Follies, and getting set up in her own Park Avenue apartment.

Review - This is a fun to watch, very entertaining film. The movie starts right off the bat with a rolling on the floor cat fight between Blondie and Lottie (they DO fight a lot, then make up throughout the film). Robert Montgomery is his usual charm boy self - I'm crazy for that handsome fellow!! Marion Davies is quite funny, her big blue eyes full of expression in this film. And - the two of them have loads of chemistry together, I must say. Fun party scene with Jimmy Durante as himself and Marion doing a spot-on imitation of Greta Garbo in "Grand Hotel (1932)". Zasu Pitts also appears in this film, as Blondie's sister (rather a small part, unfortunately). Nice looking print as screened on TCM. I liked this one a lot. Rating - 9 to 9.5/10 stars

Wuthering Heights (2009) Film Review

Plot Summary - UK TV adaptation of the classic novel by Emily Bronte. Gothic romance set on the Yorkshire moors of the early 19th century. POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD - - Master of the Gothic Yorkshire estate Wuthering Heights and kind father of young Cathy and Hindley Earnshaw, Mr. Earnshaw brings home a Liverpool street urchin who he dubs "Heathcliff". Heathcliff lives in the home as a brother to the kids - to Hindley's distress and to Cathy's happiness as a childhood romance quickly blossoms between Heathcliff and Cathy. The kids grow up, but when the dad dies, Hindley takes over as master of Wuthering Heights and banishes Heathcliff to work outdoors and live as a servant. Heathcliff won't leave and stays on to be treated like a dog by bad Hindley because now his romance with Cathy has become a great love between the two. Cathy is drawn to the wealth and lifestyle of nearby Thrushcross Grange, where she and Heathcliff are caught spying through the window at Edgar Linton and his sister Isabella. Injured by the dog while running away, Cathy is taken in to be treated and stays on at the Grange to recover. She likes this new lifestyle and decides to allow Edgar to pursue her, despite her love for Heathcliff. When she announces that Edgar has asked to marry her, Heathcliff runs away, returning three years later - the day after Cathy's wedding to Edgar Linton! Heartbroken, broody Heathcliff is now a rich gentleman who takes control of Wuthering Heights from Hindley, now a broken-down drunkard. Heathcliff brings a whirlwind of trouble to all around him, and Cathy, still in love with Heathcliff, is desperately miserable, especially when Heathcliff starts to go after sister Isabella.

Review - A sweeping, well done version with gorgeous photography done on-location in the Yorkshire moors. The house used for Wuthering Heights is suitably rambling and dark, the landscape around bringing life to the story. Tom Hardy portrays a very dark and brooding (but handsome, as he should be) Heathcliff indeed! Charlotte Riley is fine, and gives a well done, earthy portrayal of Cathy. I will always love the 1939 version of this story starring Merle Oberon and Laurence Olivier, but found this version very entertaining and well done. This film, being almost twice as long as the 1939 version, features more details of the story and includes the plotline that follows the three grown children of Hindley, Cathy, and Heathcliff and their respective spouses. I had a bit of trouble with the main character's Yorkshire accents, so missed part of the dialogue in places - but, of course, I know the story real well, so it was okay. Rating - 9 to 9.5/10 stars

Ballerina (2009) Film Review - Documentary

Plot Summary - Documentary showcasing five Russian ballerinas from the renowned Kirov Ballet Company in St. Petersburg, Russia. One is a new recruit - first seen dancing solo for her graduation recital from a prestigous ballet school - she's immediately given her dream as she is hired on to join the Kirov's Corp de Ballet. Another is in her second year with the Kirov company, and is just starting to be given solo parts. Two magnificent prima ballerinas are also featured, and the fifth dancer featured is a great Prima Ballerina just making a comeback after two years off with a foot injury. The film includes rehearsal footage, behind-the-scenes at the Mariinsky Theatre where they perform, on-stage performance footage, and interviews with the ballerinas, dance company directors and instructors.

Review - Okay, I have been in love with ballet since seeing "The Turning Point (1977)" (still one of my all-time fave films) when I was a teenager, so perhaps I am pretty biased, but I found this documentary extremely interesting. All five women are talented and beautiful ballerinas, wonderful to watch dance. By the way, I happen to love all things Russian - the streets of St. Petersburg, the ballet, the gorgeous Mariinsky Theatre, it's all good! The film features voice-over narration done by Diane Baker. Rating - 9/10 stars

The Edge of Love (2008) Film Review - Keira Knightley

Plot Summary - Romantic period piece set in London during the Blitz of WWII. Underground singer, the beautiful brunette Vera Phillips (Keira Knightley), is still loved by her childhood sweetheart, real life Welsh poet Dylan Thomas (Matthew Rhys). He's now married to blonde Catlain (Sienna Miller). The two women become best friends when Vera meets up with Dylan by chance in a London nightclub - and soon Vera, though stand-offish, is being pursued by a handsome soldier named William and the four become sort of an odd foursome. William is madly in love with Vera, especially after she sleeps with him after a terrifying bombing, and she agrees to marry him (though seemingly reluctant since he is going off to battle). With a baby on the way, Vera, Dylan, and Catlain return to Wales to live (with a bit of a love triangle to follow), while William is in Greece caught in the midst of horrendous battles.

Review - This is a stylish film, based around real incidents. Well done as a whole, with nice period costumes, art direction and location photography - though I must say that when I watched the trailer for this on the DVD (after the film) I thought "wow" - it looked like it would be such a great film in the trailer - and, well, just wasn't. I did enjoy this, but it did seem to be trying a wee bit too hard to be artsy (lots of camera shots into mirrors). How about those huge facial close-ups of Keira's gorgeous, perfect face - even on Blu-ray, she's flawless. Cillian Murphy, the actor who plays William, is a good-looker! (2009 release in USA) Review - 8/10 stars

Grey Gardens (1975) Review - Documentary

Plot Summary - Documentary about oddly unusual mother and daughter "Big Edie" and "Little Edie", aunt and cousin of Jackie O, who live almost isolated away in "Grey Gardens", their rundown mansion in East Hampton. The two women, both Edith Bouvier Beale, are both somewhat eccentric, especially the daughter. Older Edie is approaching eighty years old, is mainly seen from her bed - covered with cats and clutter - and talking about her years as a trained singer - sometimes she breaks out in song. Little Edie, mid-fifties, never married, and distinguished for her wide variety of extremely odd headdresses she wears throughout the entire film - assembled from scarves, and more often blouses and sweaters, hooked and decorated with pins, often speaks of her lost life stuck in East Hampton for over twenty years (pretty much blaming mama), she seems full of regrets, yet it appears that it was really her own choices that lead to this all along. She often dances, sings, and flirts into the camera (and yes, even flirts briefly with the men filming the documentary - barely seen, but you hear them speak sometimes to the women). The two women often talk over each other, argue a lot, yet seem to be totally bonded. The house they live in is huge, very rundown (apparently less than it was a few years back), and is just full of cats and some raccoons too.

Review - This film is bizarre and totally fascinating, I really enjoyed watching this! I feel like the mom is just getting old and perhaps a bit cranky and demanding of her daughter - the daughter is really the one with perhaps some mental problems, yet like her too - Little Edie has such a vulnerability about her, she is a very interesting character. The film is entirely filmed in the great old house, the camera constantly focusing on the women - often in facial close-ups so you really see the emotions coming through on their faces. One part I enjoyed was seeing the women show the filmmakers old photographs of themselves, both of them were once beautiful young women living the society lifestyle - young Edie described in an old newspaper clipping as a beautiful deb that writes poetry. The women, yes, are rather strange, but you just have to love them - I enjoyed spending time with these two. Rating - 10/10 stars

Grey Gardens (2009) Film Review - Drew Barrymore, Jessica Lange

Plot Summary - Based on a true story. In 1973, two filmmakers are busy making a documentary about two eccentric women, a mother and a daughter both named Edith, who live in a rundown, decaying mansion in East Hampton, New York called "Grey Gardens". We see the filming of their current day lives - mother Edith Bouvier Beale (Jessica Lange), an old bedridden woman obsessed with cats, younger "Edie" (Drew Barrymore), the middle-aged daughter who goes about with her head covered in a variety of oddball scarfs, headdresses made from blouses and pins, to hide her lost head of hair, and the mansion itself - cluttered, messy, dirty, with tons of cats (and a few raccoons) about, and a completely dead and wild, run-back garden. Interestingly, this is the cleaned-up version, as these two are seen at one point actually living in complete squalor until the Board of Health - and a famous relative step in: now here's the interesting fact - the two are aunt and cousin to Jacqueline Bouvier, who is to become first lady Jackie Kennedy Onassis. The film includes flashbacks to the 1930s/40s and into the 50s when young Edie, dominated by her flamboyant wannabee singer mother, tries to pull away from their society life (with mama at her heals pushing her to have her "debut" into society and find a wealthy man) and moves to NYC to become an actress/dancer, has an affair with a married political figure, and still ends up back at Grey Gardens, caring for her mother and basically hiding away from the world, in isolation, as the years go by.

Review - Absolutely fascinating dramatization of the lives of the two women who are featured in the classic documentary from the 1970s, "Grey Gardens (1975)". Drew Barrymore and Jessica Lange are really fantastic and believable in this film - the makeup job to make them both age from the 1930s into the 1970s is expertly done. I enjoyed every minute of this, and - though I have been meaning to for a few years now (the DVD has been sitting in my Netflix queue for quite awhile now) - I still haven't seen the original documentary of this story, now I'm going to as soon as possible. Such an interesting story. This was a made-for HBO TV film, extremely well done. Rating - 9.5/10 stars

Tess (1979) Film Review - Roman Polanski directed

Plot Summary - Directed by Roman Polanski - a sweeping, dark epic set in the English countryside of the 1880's, telling the tale of the downfall of a beautiful young woman named Tess (Nastassia Kinski). POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD - - The village parson informs Tess's father that their family, though downtrodden and poor peasants, are actually of knightly ancestry - descendants of a titled family, the d'Urbervilles. Tess's parents decide to send daughter Tess to make favor with a local, wealthy woman by the name d'Urberville. Tess arrives and meets the handsome, roguish son Alec who is immediately drawn to her beauty - soon Tess is hired on to work at their estate's poultry farm. Turns out this rich family are not actually related, as their title was purchased. Son Alec carries Tess off into the woods one day, seduces, and pretty much rapes her - Tess leaves and returns to her family, a baby follows who shortly dies. Tess sets out on her own to work on a dairy farm where she meets the good-looking (loved by every lady who works at the dairy) Angel (Peter Firth), noble son of a preacher. Angel and Tess fall in love, but after marriage he finds out her true "background" (obviously the fact she had a baby so was not "pure" is what really bugs this guy) and runs away to Brazil, leaving her without contact despite her efforts to write to him. Tess sets out, on her own again, working various horrible, dirty jobs. What will happen between her, her husband, and the man from her past?!

Review - A compelling watch, gorgeously photographed - every scene, filmed on-location in France to duplicate the English countryside and villages, looking like a picture postcard. Nastassja Kinski is at the height of her beauty - an absolutely gorgeous young woman. Something about her reminds me of a very young Ingrid Bergman (partly the similar accents). Okay - she's meant to be an English girl and has a subtle German accent - just ignore that. I loved the costumes in this, I must say. This film won several Oscars, including costume design, cinematography, and art/set direction - no surprise there. A lovely, inspired orchestral score by Phillipe Sarde accompanies the film, a good match to the story. The story, based on the classic novel, Tess of the d'Urbervilles, by Thomas Hardy, is pretty dark (the poor girl!) but an entertaining watch. I haven't seen this film since the early 80s, so it was almost like seeing it for the first time. A beautifully done film - loved! (USA release 1980 for this) Rating - 10/10 stars

Sherlock Holmes (1922) Film Review - Barrymore

Plot Summary - Silent drama starring John Barrymore (print from the collection of the George Eastman House). In England, on a country lane, we meet the future detective Sherlock Holmes (Barrymore) who is writing his observations in a little book (which includes his list called "my limitations": chemistry - profound; politics - rotten; boxing - splendid, etc. - hehe). Holmes encounters an attractive young lady, Alice (Carol Dempster), and becomes lovestruck - she is to figure into his story years later. As for now, Holmes is brought in by his pal Dr. Watson (who says Holmes is "a marvel at digging out things") to help at Cambridge, where young Prince Alexis has been accused by Scotland Yard of stealing "the Athletic Funds" - though the Prince proclaims his innocence. Holmes arrives and easily finds the real criminal, who ends up being a pawn of one powerful-minded, but evil and cold-blooded old cretin named Moriarty who lurks in the mysterious London quarter of Limehouse. Tragedy suddenly forces the Prince to return to his country as Crown Prince and give up his fiance, who, by an odd coincidence, is the sister of Holmes' memorable "Alice". Well - after meeting up with Moriarty, Holmes decides to make it his life's work to rid the world of that menace. Years pass and Holmes now resides at 221 Baker Street where he helps solve mysteries. His newest case involves his nemesis Moriarty, who is after some letters he wants to use to blackmail Prince Alexis. And who should have the letters but one Alice (Holmes still can't forget her) - he's on the case and still smitten!!

Review - Well, this is an okay film - I found John Barrymore to do a decent job as Sherlock Holmes, and liked the London setting which included snippets of real city footage from the era. I did find the film a bit too "talkie" and kind of muddled at times (particularly the end part), perhaps too many characters, too many inter-titles? The film features a lot of familiar faces from the silent/pre-code film era including Roland Young as Watson, Hedda Hopper, Louis Wolheim, and William Powell. The DVD I saw was from Kino and features a reasonable looking black and white print - pretty good contrast, some washing out in places (barely), a little bit of speckling in places. The score is nicely done organ music by composer Ben Model. Okay - the poor description of this film, totally inaccurate, on the Netflix envelope just makes me laugh - ridiculous! Where do they get these - inaccurate SO often. Rating - 6.5 to 7/10 stars