Aren't words amazing: somehow Charles Laughton's sincere rendition of The Gettysburg Address exudes such beautiful emotion straight into your heart that you feel something stir deep inside....and I'm not even American.
Even in his early serious films such as PAYMENT DEFERRED or OLD DARK HOUSE, Charles Laughton had always injected some subtle English humour - much of which often went undetected. In this however his inner comedian is no longer hidden under a bushel but free for all to see. Acknowledging the brilliance of (one of the funniest films of all time) DUCK SOUP, Laughton procured the directorial services of Leo McCarey to direct this. Whilst of course nothing could come remotely close to DUCK SOUP in terms of comedy, this is reasonably funny....but it's a film in which you'll find yourself slightly chuckling rather than one with any laugh out loud moments. Nice though.
For those of you who watch a lot of old films, you'd probably recognize this as having a "Paramount style" (the more you watch, the more you recognize these things.) For those of you who don't: it's that Quasimodo bloke in the wild west.
There's a nice cosy warm feel to this. You know that nothing too unpleasant is going to happen and that everything's going to work out fine in the end. It's not sentimental but it's possibly just a little too cosy. Laughton himself is sublimely funny but the story, even though it has a lovely theme behind it, isn't in any way whatsoever exciting. Providing you're not expecting anything too special, you'll be glad you watched this.
Even in his early serious films such as PAYMENT DEFERRED or OLD DARK HOUSE, Charles Laughton had always injected some subtle English humour - much of which often went undetected. In this however his inner comedian is no longer hidden under a bushel but free for all to see. Acknowledging the brilliance of (one of the funniest films of all time) DUCK SOUP, Laughton procured the directorial services of Leo McCarey to direct this. Whilst of course nothing could come remotely close to DUCK SOUP in terms of comedy, this is reasonably funny....but it's a film in which you'll find yourself slightly chuckling rather than one with any laugh out loud moments. Nice though.
For those of you who watch a lot of old films, you'd probably recognize this as having a "Paramount style" (the more you watch, the more you recognize these things.) For those of you who don't: it's that Quasimodo bloke in the wild west.
There's a nice cosy warm feel to this. You know that nothing too unpleasant is going to happen and that everything's going to work out fine in the end. It's not sentimental but it's possibly just a little too cosy. Laughton himself is sublimely funny but the story, even though it has a lovely theme behind it, isn't in any way whatsoever exciting. Providing you're not expecting anything too special, you'll be glad you watched this.