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HarveyA
Reviews
Radio City Revels (1938)
And the dancing!
Very silly but very entertaining movie. Great cast. And the dancing...one number, I think, compares very favorably with the big dance number in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. The individual dancers are superb. One female dancer (I don't think it was Ann Miller) does steps I've never seen before and should attract the admiration of skilled orthopedists. Milton Berle and Jack Okie make an interesting pair of con men, and if you remember Uncle Miltie from his television days, you'll see that he was practicing his "schtick" long before TV. It's also interesting to see Jane Froman--beautiful face and beautiful voice--before the accident that crippled her (and led to "With a Song In My Heart" with Susan Hayward.)
The White Tower (1950)
An allegory disguised as a mountain climbing adventure
I think it is highly significant that this movie was made in 1950, five years after WW II. Underneath the adventure and the romance, it is a story of ethnicity, of history, of the cost of war, of survival under great duress and of the need for cooperation among peoples, if humanity is ever to reach its goal, its peak. The exhausted Englishman, the pathetic philosophical Frenchman, the rigid and angry Nazi, the strong but innocent American, the wise and patient old mountaineer, the girl trying to achieve what her father could not--triumph, that is, peace. It is a plea for selflessness, since the mountain cannot be climbed by one person alone. It is a message that has meaning for every age. The scenery, the casting and the acting are all superb.
There Will Be Blood (2007)
This movie will drink your milkshake
This is a fabulous movie and I can't add much to what has already been said. But I did notice this: some of Eli Sunday's preachments as he "cures" the old lady of arthritis are taken word for word from Elmer Gantry. Maybe they go back further, to Billy Sunday or some other preacher, but the words are identical.
Daniel Day-Lewis is phenomenal, as usual. Just as Meryl Streep is almost without question, the best female actor of our time, Day-Lewis holds that honor for the other side. Imagine a movie with both of them. It would be memorable. On the other hand, There Will Be Blood is memorable all by itself.
Her Highness and the Bellboy (1945)
An unexpected charmer
I turned this on almost reluctantly. Nothing else was on. I stuck with it and I'm glad I did. It's light, charming and totally predictable, but its stars make it much more than expected. Hedy Lamarr is, as everyone else says, gorgeous. She's what a European princess SHOULD look like, although few ever have. James Walker is a complete surprise to me. He's exuberant and very likable. But for me, it was June Allyson who stole the show. I've always thought she was cute and sweet, but in this movie, she's really lovely. There's no one in the movies today who's remotely like her, although I suppose comparisons might be made to an early Meg Ryan. She completely unaffected and natural. I would imagine that when this movie was released, every boy wanted a girlfriend like her.
We Who Are Young (1940)
Dalton Trumbo script makes this very interesting
Dalton Trumbo, who wrote the script for this film, was one of the screenwriters blacklisted as a result of the Communist scare of the late 1940s and early 1950s. If you watch the movie with that in mind, you'll find fascinating the political sentiments he puts in the mouth of the protagonist (Shelton).
It's not that the philosophy is Marxist, exactly, but it is certainly a left-wing view of working life. Shelton's antagonist, Bemis, expresses a very pure libertarian view--he got where he is though his own efforts alone, he never asked anyone for help, nor got help from any, and he's damn proud of it. He has contempt for "weaklings" who don't match his self-sufficiency.
Shelton--Trumbo, that is--calls him out. He says that no one has ever done anything alone, he's always had help from the others around him and that people depend on each other for support and there's nothing wrong with that. Rules may be rules, but they must be administered with human kindness.
We're still having the very same argument today, in almost the same words. I've found myself having identical discussions on Facebook and Reddit, and the libertarian view is alive and well. Interestingly, Trumbo makes some of the same points I have made in these discussions.
Anyhow, there's a non-obvious deeper layer to this film that makes it interesting in today's political environment. It's worth seeing for that reason, if for no other.
Somewhere in the Night (1946)
Plenty here to enjoy
If you want to be hypercritical about it and you delight in pointing out plot holes, you may give this movie a bad review, while at the same time flaunting your critical chops. That's anyone's privilege.
But if you're just looking for an enjoyable film, you can't go wrong with this one. The performances are good, the settings suggestive, the script often clever and funny and the whole experience quite entertaining. Can't quite figure out the plot? Well, that won't matter. The characters on the screen seem to understand it and that's enough.
By all means, catch it on cable or rent it. It's fun. And it will remind you why you find film noir so entertaining. So it isn't the Maltese Falcon. So what?
Her First Romance (1951)
Too bad for Margaret O' Brien
Margaret O'Brian was an absolutely luminous child star, very sweet and amazingly cute, also able to handle roles of some emotional depth.
As a teenager, she still has echoes of these qualities, but, while they were amazing in her younger years, they are only a little above average as a teen.
It's really too bad...she might have succeeded in a better, deeper and more demanding role, but this piffle would have torpedoed Elizabeth Taylor.
Too bad. After her successes in childhood, it would have been quite satisfying to see her succeed as a teen and an adult. It's hard not to be fond of her as a child star.
September 30, 1955 (1977)
Unknown film, good performances, touching
Had never heard of this movie and turned it on because nothing else was on. Turns out it was a touching and well-acted story.
Richard Thomas--normally I don't much care for him--was excellent. There's fun here and there's melodrama, and it's a little over the top, but all in all, it's quite entertaining.
The film was made in 1977, but it doesn't seem all that dated. The sensibility and ironies, which abound, seem quite contemporary, even though it's set in 1955, and it recreates that era very well. At any rate, if you have a chance to see it, I think you'll like it.
It's also fun to see Dennis Quaid and Tom Hulce in their late teens.
La leggenda del pianista sull'oceano (1998)
Haunting, inexplicable, mesmerizing, gorgeous
I truly cannot understand the comment above mine. I've seen this movie three times now and am at this very moment, watching it again on IFC. It is literature at its best. Tim Roth is remarkable. The musical score is exceptional. The setting is unique. The emotions are deep and haunting. Not many people are likely to discover this movie. It sneaked into release with hardly a sound. But those who find it will remember it all of their lives. Yes, it has imperfections, but then so does the Mona Lisa. This film led me into a musical exploration that hasn't stopped yet--an exploration of jazz piano music of the Jellyroll Morton, Fats Waller, Art Tatum variety. So I owe it a great debt, in addition to the gratitude I feel toward the filmmaker for creating it.
Pursuit of Happiness (2001)
Look at it another way...
Yes, the movie isn't very good. It's pretty sentimental stuff, nothing original or even memorable...BUT...the cast is so appealing that it's flaws don't really matter much. Annabeth Gish is positively luminous. People will say this is a woman's movie, but when male viewers see Annabeth Gish, they won't care about the plot, dialog or other characters. And she's not the only looker. Amy-Jo Johnson is beautiful, and there are at least two others I can think of.
The story is fairly predictable, but the acting is quite good. It's not a bad way to spend an evening, especially if you're spending it with someone you care about. It would be a fine date movie for 20 or 30-somethings.