johnedit-2 Reviews

The Marriage Circle (1924)

Excellent

[9/10 · 1 August 2002]

A superb, honest, tender romantic comedy of manners, which features acting today's performers would be hard to match. You can laugh and feel for these characters. Ernst Lubitsch's smart direction keeps the movie always interesting, never dated.

"The Marriage Circle" should be required viewing for today's filmmakers. They'd learn how to reveal characters in emotionally complicated situations with minimum dialogue. And how to tell a story with minimum dialogue. And be funny.

Shrek (2001)

Computer overload

[8/10 · 18 May 2001]

At best, "Shrek" is a good, but not great, fairy tale. It's noteworthy for its charming anti-Disney satire, Eddie Murphy's hilarious donkey, some delightful surprises and many uproarious bits. An 8 out of 10, but with a major reservation:

"Shrek's" super-realistic computer animation gets annoying and tiring. What's the point of imitating real-life, when conventional movies -- with some special effects -- can do it more effectively? This story and these characters would have been better served with hand-drawn, clay or plastic animation (as in "The Iron Giant" or "Chicken Run," or see the brilliant 1950s and 1960s stuff by John and Faith Hubley). Excessively realistic computer animation takes away from the fantasy.

Back to the drawing board!

Desperate (1947)

Best when cold

[6/10 · 17 May 2001]

Conventional film noir melodrama is notable for ice black visuals and Raymond Burr's soft-spoken, hulking bad guy.

Film hurt by too-simple story, without the existential undertones that marked film noir at its best. But look of the film -- those rich shadows; creamy, sometimes violent whites; sharp camera angles and moving camera -- help a lot. Burr is a scary, almost psycho, but frighteningly low-keyed, bully boy.

Turner's print of RKO original looked great on TMC. Note how much it crams into about 75 minutes. I give it 6 out of 10.

The Ace of Hearts (1921)

Silly Lon Chaney silent meller has its moments, surprisingly.

[5/10 · 31 October 2000]

Lon Chaney belongs to some middleclass terrorist group that assassinates rich guys. He loves the lone woman in the secret society, but she love another. The plot had to be dumb even in 1921 and Chaney's overacting had to be too much even in those days.

Still, the silent film technique reminds one just how much time is wasted today on mindless dialogue. The film moves quickly and its moody visuals almost makes up for the silly story. When Chaney isn't pounding his chest, his face tells exactly enough.

"The Ace of Hearts" is a fascinating curiosity piece, and it has an excellent and evocative new symphonic score commissioned by Turner Classic Movies. Many thanks to TCM for its preservation and enhancement of our silent film heritage.

A Big Hand for the Little Lady (1966)

Delightful little treasure

[8/10 · 1 June 2000]

Comedy-drama about annual monster poker game in Texas. Henry Fonda plays a poker player on the wagon, but he gets into the game anyway. His performance is excellent, conveying complicated, conflicting emotions. Joanne Woodward, as Fonda's wife, has grit, with a sweet Virginia accent

The film's visual style revealed the director's TV background: lots of angled two- and three-shots. Lee Garmes was the cinematographer, and he gives the film a deep, rich look.

First rate supporting cast does tend to yell too much. And twist ending isn't that much of a surprise, but it's neat anyway.

This picture is a treasure! Who knew?

Meet Me in Las Vegas (1956)

Cyd Charisse shows off her versatility (from ballet to burlesque) in okay musical.

[7/10 · 13 May 2000]

Modestly, very modestly, entertaining romance/musical is worth seeing only for Cyd ("Legs for Days") Charisse dancing at her best; and her acting is better than usually.

Plot has rancher Dan Dailey and ballet star Charisse fall for each other in Las Vegas. Charisse shows off her versatility in two dancing ballets, a burlesque bump and grind, an "Oklahoma"-esque cowboy dance, and in a "Frankie and Johnny" number as well-sung by Sammy Davis Jr.

The dance numbers were choreographed by one of Hollywood's all-time best choreographers, Hermes Pan, and they show off Charisse at her leggy best. The burleque number is a hoot and the second ballet is high camp.

Other musical numbers are by Jerry Calonna, Lena Horne and Frankie Lane. Dailey even does a song and dance with Japanese kid singer Mitsuko Sawamura (from "Tea House of the August Moon").

Watch carefully for brief cameos by Frank Sinatra, Pier Angeli, Debbie Reynolds and Peter Lorre (he's a blackjack player saying "Hit me"!). George Chakiris (credited as George Kerris) has a brief role too.

It looks like a lot of mid-50s casinos helped with the filming, so there are no Godfathers behind the scenes. Vegas appears positively plain compared to today's glitz.

If you're into this type of show you'll love it.

Taxi (1931)

Dated melodrama about fighting cabbie Jimmy Cagney (who speaks Yiddish!) romancing luscious Loretta Young.

[5/10 · 9 May 2000]

Another Warner Bros. factory production, "Taxi!" (with the exclamation point) is worth seeing only for a few odds and ends.

Fighting cabbie James Cagney speaks Yiddish in the opening scene. According to Turner Movie Classics, the scene was rewritten when it was learned Cagney actually spoke Yiddish.

Plot line starts out with Cagney fighting for independent cabbies and against corruption. But the last half mainly details his romance with Loretta Young (their only screen pairing). She is radiant and looks and speaks much classier than her character's blue collar background would suggest.

Some of the second unit (or stock) shots of New York City have a certain historical interest. One scene of two cabs forcing a third off the street was obviously shot in the then-spare suburbs of L.A.

The fast dialogue can get amusing here and there. The script crams in as much plot and as many characters in 70 minutes as Hollywood now takes 120 minutes to do.

Fridays (1980–1982)

Despite reputation as a second-rate rate ripoff of Saturday Night Live, it usually was much better.

[29 December 1999]

Created in early 1980s by ABC as an imitation of "Saturday Night Live," it was more extreme, crazier and funnier than "SNL." Besides Andy Kauffman, it featured Larry David and Michael Richards (both later of "Seinfeld").

Richard's violent, war-mongering and ultimately self-destructive boy in the sandbox was a brilliant creation. It broke the rules of physical comedy, going far beyond the predictable smart-alek jokes of "SNL." Richards was the genius of the show, not Kauffman, who by then was sadly running out of ideas.

By the way, the Kauffman episode of "Fridays" depicted in the movie "Man in the Moon" was not a spontaneous outburst. It was planned ahead of time, according to B.K. Momchilov, who runs the Andy Kauffman Home Page.

The Comedy Channel should play "Fridays" re-runs to offset "SNL's" stale re-runs.

All That Jazz (1979)

Exciting dance numbers, but overdone

[11 October 1998]

Leonard Maltin gave Bob Fosse's autobiographical "All That Jazz" 2 1/2 stars, underrating the film because of its excesses. For example, co-writer, subject, co-producer, director and choreographer Fosse produces an endless endling, overloaded with songs, dances and drama.

Roy Scheider plays a brilliant and self-destructive theater & film director Fosse modeled after himself. The film's final death sequence goes on for 20 minutes or so; its many scenes are fascinating ("8 1/2"-ish) to look at, but too many to fully enjoy.

There's the operation to save "Fosse"; Ben Vareen's swarmy song and dance tribute to "Fosse"; "Fosse" the movie director shooting "Fosse" the patient; at least three separate dance numbers, each building on the other, as "Fosse" hallucinates others' commentaries on his life (with one number straight out of Busby Berkely). It goes on and on. Each is beautiful, perhaps a little too heavy with meaning, but always absorbing.

Leading up to that, we see "Fosse" not so much juggling as diving in and diving out of relationships with his ex-wife, a new young lover, an long-time faithful lover, his new musical, his new movie and his pre-teen daughter. In between he rumages through his life with Jessica Lange, a beautiful, dressed-in-white angel of death.

The film portrays "Fosse" too simplistically: a creative genious and a failed, albeit charming, human being. Mere contradictions don't make for subtleties.

But its portrayal of show business's inner workings -- dance rehearsals, film editing, business dealings -- are totally absorbing. An oh-so-young John Lithgow's appearance as a director who might take over from "Fosse" oozes enough phony sincerety to grease a hundred frying pans.

And throughout, the film has a rich visual style that ranges from appropriately glitzy to dream-like to straight dramatic.

Finally, the dance numbers, specially staged for the camera, reveal that dance can be cinematic instead of static.

The brilliant dancing and musical scenes clearly override Fosse's instinct to overdo and overtell. This 19-year-old movie, even when seen on cable TV (in a letterboxed version) has more in it, and more to it, that all of today's over-budgeted, underfed blockblusers.