cfinde Reviews

WR: Mysteries of the Organism (1971)

a serious waste of film & time

[1/10 · 12 July 2008]

Not sure why I kept watching except maybe hoping it would get better.. but instead it couldn't find an ending for itself. There is no way the film had a shooting script to start with, merely lots of poor quality black & white film to splice together incoherently. To make it even more tedious there are white subtitles against white backgrounds in at least 90 per cent of the footage. The "comedy" is nonexistent but primal screaming, wailing, bogus techniques of healing are all there to make you squirm. Imagine that in 15 consecutive minutes you see: shock therapy, scream therapy, ice skating, Stalin, a mentally ill person banging his head against a wall, a plaster cast penis & a talking head without a body!! This film has to be a joke..if you took it seriously you must be on drugs while you watched it. Pretentious, amateurish, and trust me on this--a complete waste of approx 1.5 hrs that you could have been getting some sleep. By the way, did this director sleep with the director of Night Train to Venice?

If.... (1968)

Still released cut

[9/10 · 1 August 2007]

Yes, this film is surreal and brilliant. I saw the original uncut version in its theatrical release & later at UT in a film studies class. The VHS & Criterion versions are NOT the complete film. They have been heavily censored. Among the deletions are: full frontal male & female nudity (at least 5 minutes total), a sex scene where McDowell is "deflowering" (his words) a coed...again both totally nude and a dream sequence where males are being sexual active with each other. It's a shame that the advertised "English" release version is still not the complete version..If you don't believe me: find an old 1969 Playboy magazine where they used to have a feature titled "sex in the cinema" and you will see photos of the original film & they are not in the versions mentioned above! If the original version was released into the theaters today it would have to receive NC-17..no doubt about it. I'm guessing there are at least 10 minutes missing in all available releases. It may have something to do with the actors not agreeing to sign off on some of their contents!

Night Train to Venice (1993)

on second thought

[1/10 · 4 February 2007]

for some reason this film keeps being put on TV opposite late night infomercials. however, it's not any more entertaining than they are. u can sleep to it though and even listen to CDs while its on and u won't miss a thing. not sure if this could have been safely released theatrically without bomb threats against the projectionist. someone should probably confiscate all copies of this baloney and do atomic testing near them. its possible this film causes cancer.It also begs the question: why there isn't a "zero" rating on this site? I'm wondering if the director really knows how bad this is and whether he was able to be paid for it. Maybe the director's name really is alan smithee.. or maybe it should be.

Gypsy (1962)

one of the top 10 of all musicals

[10/10 · 1 March 2003]

There is very little wrong with this version compared to the newer Bette Midler version. Rosalind Russell, Karl Malden and Natalie Wood are perfectly cast and the whole production sails at a brisk pace to be one of the most constantly entertaining movies of all time. If you have only seen the newer version, you will be amazed how it is so inferior to the original. Pure entertainment at its best & should have won many more awards than it did! The real Gypsy Rose Lee actually saw this film and greatly admired it (according to her son...the illegitimate one of Otto Preminger). The DVD version is an excellent transfer but has almost no extras. Two deleted scenes and no commentary but the colors are fantastic.