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Industry (2020)
Am I supposed to know all this financial stuff?
The fact is, I feel like I need to take a course on Financial Trading and Banking before I can understand what is going on.
There was one scene where two characters were barking back and forth at each other:
HIM: "TWO CENTS!"
HER: "She won't do less than five."
HIM: "TWO POINT SEVEN FIVE."
HER: "Five."
HIM: "FOUR POINTS TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT. I CAN'T GUARANTEE LIQUIDITY WITH ANYTHING ABOVE THAT."
ME: Maybe I should just watch "Antiques Road Show."
Lady of the Tropics (1939)
Vastly Underrated
Truly I don't understand the poor reviews of this film.
It's a melodramatic romance in the vein of "Camille" or "Waterloo Bridge." (Both of which also starred Robert Taylor). It is certainly no worse than those, and the overall theme is not that much different.
Hedy Lamarr's role here is very subtly played. She lies and deceives because she doesn't want anyone to be hurt. That is key to understanding her character. Placed in an impossible situation, Manon tries her best to rise above it the only way she knows how. Lamarr captures this struggle magnificently. It's written on her face in so many scenes.
Sometimes I've heard she is "wooden" in this role. Are you kidding? In her scenes with evil Delaroch, she masks her agony with a Mona Lisa smile, trying to reveal nothing. That is acting, folks. Sorry you don't recognize it. Perhaps it is because so many stars of the era regularly chewed the scenery, and in comparison, Lamarr's portrayal is too realistic. It's the only thing I can fathom.
As for Robert Taylor, also a favorite of mine...I think he plays the American playboy perfectly. One of my favorite scenes is where he's trying to buy a "hat" for his heiress girlfriend early in the film. He supplies humor in just the right amounts, and his eventual adoration of Manon is well done, hauntingly.
I have seen this movie probably more than any others of hers, and I never get tired of it.
I Take This Woman (1940)
Mishmash of a movie
Hedy Lamarr is my favorite actress of the Golden Age. But I have only been able to watch this movie ONCE from start to finish. God knows I have tried on subsequent occasions to try and find something redeeming about it. But the only thing I can come up with is Hedy Lamarr's face.
The continuity is horrible, which makes sense when you consider how many times production stopped and started, replacing Walter Pidgeon with Kent Taylor, and so on, etcetera etcetera ad infinitum.
In all honesty I think it would have better served everyone if it had been permanently shelved and then lost for all time.
BUT...
It is always pleasant to see her face photographed to perfection, so I give it a reluctant 4 stars out of 10.