We all know Nighy's schtick by now and it is amply demonstrated here. Some will be taken in by it but not me. It's strictly by the numbers and seems to be directed by an earnest dogooder hoping to create something lovely and emotional. Instead it's embarrassing rot, ultimately. If they were trying to emulate the far superior Remains of the Day, stitched together with a bit of Phantom Thread, it just doesn't hold together. It's what passes though, these days, for 'quality' filmmaking but it has no discipline, no real control. Let's mix together some stiff British upper lip, reserve, a 1950s background, a couple of red London buses and some bowler hats and some a few dollops of sentiment...result is a gooey slice of British stodge. It's as if real studio control and discipline has been turfed out the window and some empathetic teenagers decide to 'come up with a really lovely film' etc. It is strictly fake, folks.
Reviews
32 Reviews
The Bride Came C.O.D.
(1941)
Had Fools For Scandal been a success...
8 August 2022
Carole Lombard, whose sacred name has been raised here, would have signed an exclusive contract with Warner Brothers and this would have gone to her, no question. Maybe she would have been considered for The Man Who Came to Dinner, too. Lombard was nowhere near as good a dramatic actress as Davis, Davis was nowhere near Lombard when it came to pulling this sort of movie off. We will never know. Hard to imagine Lombard and Davis battling it out for scripts though. Imagine Lombard in Now Voyager. Nup. Some things, alas, may just be best left alone.
Experiment in Terror
(1962)
What terror there might have been has evaporated over the years.
24 July 2022
This really hasn't weathered the decades very well. If it was meant to be a taut thriller it sags badly in parts and becomes more of an experiment in seeing whether or not you can last the distance. Blake Edwards' films practically all sag at some point as he wanders off into parts unknown before returning to the story, whatever it may be. Cast largely wasted in this although they can't be faulted as to their actual performances. Remick and Ford are very good but you've seen them in better roles.
State Fair
(1933)
On the face of it, as wholesome as it gets. On the FACE of it.
8 July 2022
Can I be slightly crude here and say that an alternate title for this wonderful pre coder could be 'Rutting Season'? I have always been unable to stomach the saccharine 1945 version and the 1962 version is just awful, but this one seems to me far more 'real'. It certainly is quite frank regarding sexual attraction, and not just between hogs and sows. If you pay attention there's more spice to be found in the subtext than in Ma's prize winning pickles. A fascinating film and one that deserves to be shown more than it is.
A Hole in the Head
(1959)
Dreadful waste of time and talent.
5 June 2022
There's a deep sadness involved in this film as it is absolutely a waste of everyone involved. Frank Capra is clearly at the shallow end of the pool here and his, excellent, cast can do nothing but flounder in it. Laughs are few and laboured and the whole, overlong, film runs out of steam about 30 minutes before it officially ends...by which time...it just doesn't matter who ends up with whom. One of those glossy, empty films of the late 50s where studio control has taken a hike and over the hill and irrelevant big name directors of the past struggle. This is a misfire, pure and simple and as artificial a product as anything turned out in this time period. Thelma Ritter, you tried so hard to breathe life into it. Carolyn Jones you were a magnetic and highly individual actress who simply just didn't get the respect or the roles you deserved. Sinatra, you try hard here, it has to be said. And you can be charming. But this material was beneath you.
Sister Boniface Mysteries
(2022– )
Assembly line fill in the dots product.
6 April 2022
Embarrassingly artificial in every way. Manufactured goofiness mixed into wafer thin plots results in a bland confection of cozy 1950s English pudding, studded of course with pc raisins to make it more 'palatable' for 'today's tastes'. I don't know who this series is aimed at, but it can't surely be for discriminating adults.
Two Mules for Sister Sara
(1970)
Overlooked gem.
6 February 2022
There are many striking moments in this film, beautifully photographed by the Mexican maestro of the art, Gabriel Figueroa. His superb skills here verge on the mystical at times. MacLaine is wonderful in her role although mascara and lipstick on a 'nun' was a bit jarring. Still, much better than I was led to believe all these years. Eastwood and MacLaine make an odd pairing and I'm not sure that there is any great 'chemistry' between them, but I'll take what I can get from this picture which is really an unexpected lot, all things considered.
Too good, of course, to enjoy wide currency.
9 November 2021
Jennifer Jason Leigh gives an outstanding performance as Dorothy Parker. It isn't going to cut much ice with those who know nothing (and I imagine there are plenty) of Parker and her association with the Algonquin and The New Yorker set. One for the starving connoisseurs who are, all too rarely, fed scraps like this. I do quibble though with some detail. Hollywood, 1937. Robert Benchley was not making short subjects for Selznick International Pictures. MGM, yes, but not Selznick. But then, who knows now or cares for such felicity? Overall a splendid, handsome and adult production.
Knock on Any Door
(1949)
A dull, preachy misfire.
4 July 2021
A Bogart film I had not seen?? By Nicholas Ray?? Wow, let's have a look at it I thought. It soon became apparent that this was actually not a good film and that was disappointing. John Derek is not an interesting actor and the cast, apart from Bogart of course, were lackluster. Strange. Ray and Bogart would do much better with In a Lonely Place a couple of years later, but this one is just a static unfocused misfire.
A Life of Her Own
(1950)
Staggeringly banal junk
11 April 2021
Lana Turner did a couple of good pictures I suppose, but I always found her utterly superficial and there are few pictures as profoundly superficial as this one. From the trite, dumbass dialogue, to the jaw droppingly ugly swell clothes, the sleepwalking assistance of Ray Milland and the mind numbingly pretentious speechifying...there's a ventriloquist's dummy in the film that arguably gives the best performance, it's certainly every inch as wooden as Turner...there is, at practically every turn, a brick wall in terms of "where are we going with this?" Those who make it to the end will have been bored to the point of screaming, I know I was. Glossy trash of the very highest magnitude.
The Silencers
(1966)
Showcase of 60s camp.
7 April 2021
Ok, let's face it. This sexist junk gets more and more irrelevant and sexist as the years pass but it has these facets in its favor: Stunning 60s art decoration, a rambunctious freewheeling spirit and some fascinating performers. I don't mean grizzled, bleary eyed Dean Martin although he's amiable enough. I mean Cyd Charisse, Dahlia Lavi and Stella Stevens. Three utterly captivating actresses for varying reasons. I don't think Stevens is particularly funny in this, in fact she's quite annoying, but she's one of those performers the camera absolutely loves. Dahlia Lavi is..well, quite something. Charisse is her usual top notch dynamic self. Briefly, sadly, we have have another splendid 60s actress, Nancy Kovacks, on board. And just as an observation..could there be anything more gloriously camp than Robert Webber in his cowboy shirt playing the piano on a mobile bar poolside? To the Woke crowd the advice is to stay away, there's plenty to see here that will upset you. To the folks now IN their 60s this sublime nonsense will take you back to your local theater where, as kids, we would look at posters advertising forthcoming attractions such as...this. A fascinating backward look at a vanished America.
Prometheus
(I) (2012)
Bloody dreadful.
1 April 2021
At first I thought, whoah, breathtaking visuals. By the end of the movie that's virtually all you can say about it, absolutely nothing else remains except godamned over the top Geiger. Geiger and slime and eggs and goo. Couldn't care less about any of the characters in it, except David. He was cool, but fer Chrissakes, is this the best they could have come up with? The script is woeful, the acting is below par and it's all a bloody mess really. Pity.
Saratoga Trunk
(1945)
Awful Warner Brothers tosh.
17 January 2021
There's a reason that some films, even if they do have great stars in them, are best left to linger in the shadows. They do not stand up to the light of the present day. I had never seen this film and had harboured over the decades my belief that it had something to do with a large trunk, as in suitcase, that contained within it secrets...
By God, it's jaw droppingly dreadful. Whose idea was it to cast Flora Robson in blackface? Yes, I know, it was a less 'woke' Hollywood in 1943 but even so. Could they not have enlisted the talents of a black actress, even if the role itself was essentially demeaning..why make it worse? The fact that Robson was actually nominated for an Oscar for this is just amazing to me. Then there's the dehumanization of the dwarf actor involved and his various humiliations. I understand that all this was then and should be viewed as such but in 2021 it's really too much to ask. Added to which the furious over acting of Bergman is like fingernails on a blackboard. Will you, for the love of God, just ease up on it? But no. It's relentless. And does it go on or does it go on? The film seems positively the length of an undersea cable, it's agonisingly endless, not to mention encrusted with barnacles. Gary Cooper is Gary Cooper is Gary Cooper, this film wastes his particularly laconic talents and his character is of little real interest or substance. Supporting roles by Florence Bates and the redoubtable Ethel Griffies provide interest and there is, I suppose, pleasure to be derived from some lovely photography. There is A grade Hollywood production values sewn into it, there's no doubt about it. But, no. This is one of those lush pieces of nonsense that ought to be put away, quietly, but firmly, out of circulation. Rated NFPDA. (Not For Present Day Audiences).
By God, it's jaw droppingly dreadful. Whose idea was it to cast Flora Robson in blackface? Yes, I know, it was a less 'woke' Hollywood in 1943 but even so. Could they not have enlisted the talents of a black actress, even if the role itself was essentially demeaning..why make it worse? The fact that Robson was actually nominated for an Oscar for this is just amazing to me. Then there's the dehumanization of the dwarf actor involved and his various humiliations. I understand that all this was then and should be viewed as such but in 2021 it's really too much to ask. Added to which the furious over acting of Bergman is like fingernails on a blackboard. Will you, for the love of God, just ease up on it? But no. It's relentless. And does it go on or does it go on? The film seems positively the length of an undersea cable, it's agonisingly endless, not to mention encrusted with barnacles. Gary Cooper is Gary Cooper is Gary Cooper, this film wastes his particularly laconic talents and his character is of little real interest or substance. Supporting roles by Florence Bates and the redoubtable Ethel Griffies provide interest and there is, I suppose, pleasure to be derived from some lovely photography. There is A grade Hollywood production values sewn into it, there's no doubt about it. But, no. This is one of those lush pieces of nonsense that ought to be put away, quietly, but firmly, out of circulation. Rated NFPDA. (Not For Present Day Audiences).
The Dead Don't Die
(2019)
As bleak a comedy as you will ever see.
1 November 2020
First thing to remember about this film is that it's Jim Jarmusch territory, the second is don't be misled into thinking that it IS a comedy. Ok, sure, there are a couple of laughs around the beginning but then it becomes very obvious what this movie is actually saying and it's a very bitter, very bleak statement indeed. People are going to be pissed off by it. People are not going to like what they thought would be a goofy zombie movie starring Bill Murray. I admit at first I had thought that that was exactly what it was going to be. This is a very pointed denunciation of where America is at the moment, and, very obviously, Trump's America. It's message is unpalatable, or, palatable depending on your stance. Whether or not you feel that the message is correct, either way you will be disturbed by this film. In that sense it's very scary. Not a feel good pic by any means, it's very dark and very nihilistic. That said it remains, I think, a work of confrontational near genius.
The Cotton Club
(1984)
This film is a mess.
26 September 2020
I can only assume that this was a colossal vanity project for Francis Ford Coppola and the fact that it tanked at the box office is no surprise to me at all. What the hell is this film about, exactly? I kept waiting for it to come alive but it never really gains consciousness. Richard Gere simply doesn't have the charisma and is just a wooden presence in most of his scenes, a doughy dopey guy playing at being a movie star. Diane Lane looks great but she's wasted as so much talent is in this lumbering spectacle. There's no heart here, no real depth to any of it. A pity. I had hoped that it might be a film that was cruelly overlooked and that now it might be due for a reappraisal. Um, no, sadly.
The Picture Idol
(1912)
Remarkably fresh and zippy little comedy.
27 August 2020
Clara Kimball Young is very expressive in this professional product from 1912 and it's rather striking. It's fluid, well constructed and moves along nicely. Maurice Costello displays wonderful naturalism and it's very easy to see that he was indeed a 'Picture Idol'. Nice support from an actor named George Cooper. Considering it all it has to be said that story telling and acting are really first rate and there's great charm in his short running time.
The Cheap Detective
(1978)
Lifeless spoof.
16 May 2020
Woody Allen is a much funnier writer than Neil Simon and his Play it Again Sam (72) had far more wit in it than this supposedly funny satire. Simon, in pretty much all he's done, demonstrates a genius for the mediocre and there's really noone in this laboured and strained farce who stands out in this waste and time and talent. It's a pity because everyone IN it is wonderful, but not because of their performances in it. I know we're meant to be reduced to helpless laughter by it all but it doesn't work, in my opinion. Dull lines, dull and strained delivery (especially by Louise Fletcher who, whatever else she was, was no comedienne.) For my money if people played it straight they might have got something out of Simon's dull script.
Mackenna's Gold
(1969)
Spectacularly dreadful.
5 April 2020
The only remotely noteworthy points in this film's favour are the locations although even they are ill used and wasted, like everyone in this mess. Breathtakingly bad on every level from the profoundly sloppy direction to the laughable model work... I suppose it's JUST possible to view it as a comedy and if you do you might actually get something out of it. But if you wandered in here thinking it might be a neglected western gem then.. no, it isn't. No.. whatever else this film might be it isn't that. Surprised to find this junk on the Criterion Channel. Note to programmers there: Bottom of the barrel trash, can do much better than this.
Rumba
(1935)
Maybe Lombard's sexiest performance
25 November 2019
I never thought of Lombard as particularly sexy. Madcap and off the wall, yes, but not really a sex symbol, per se. And yet in the little celebrated Rumba she definitely radiates sensual appeal and it helps that her more irritating mannerisms are somewhat, although not entirely, restrained here. There IS a chemistry with George Raft, you can see that. Lombard's dancing is quite credible and given the character's doubts then it's a skilfull interpretation. A surprise in some ways. One gets the impression that if things had been loosened up a little then it would have set the screen alight. But it's just a bit watered down. Could have been great but it's passable enough.
White Hunter Black Heart
(1990)
'My name is the great film director, John Huston'.
17 November 2019
My title? That's my little joke. (I can do a passable impression of John Huston and this is how I imagine him introducing himself). Without getting into the plot (it's been well described by others) this is a rather good look behind the scenes of the making of The African Queen. Eastwood even, at times, quite sounds like John Huston who is, in this thinly veiled portrait, depicted as somewhat of a driven 'larger than life character' full of manly brio, which he undoubtedly was, no question. Although likeable? Not really. (Anyone read his autobiographical An Open Book lately?) and rather full of himself. It's also interesting seeing Hepburn and Bogart played by sort of lookalikes (although 'Phil Duncan' as a name for Bogie? Please...) and there's some very nice locations and period setups. Overall a credible and well executed film.
Dolemite
(1975)
Superb.
13 November 2019
I came to Dolemite by mistake. I had thought that I was watching the Eddie Murphy My Name is Dolemite on Netflix and believed that it was a very, very clever pastiche until I realised that I was actually watching the real thing, not something made this year! Ok, that sorted, I'll get to the Murphy thing in due course. ASAP. But this original? A beautiful restoration job (which added to my initial confusion) on Amazon Prime and watched on my Occulus Go which gave it the big screen treatment. A joy from start to finish, a very funny film and quite bonkers in places but oh.. the laughs.. the cars, the clothes. Mid 70s perfection. If I'd never heard of Dolemite before My Name is Dolemite it's been my misfortune. Am now a (what's left of it) lifetime fan.
The Swimmer
(1968)
Masterpiece of 60s American cinema
17 October 2019
I hadn't seen The Swimmer in many years and thought I'd take the plunge.. this time on my Oculus Go, so it had the illusion that I was seeing it on the giant screen. It struck me as a lacerating look at the American dream which had mutated into some ghastly nightmare. I was hypnotized by Burt Lancaster's performance and the various supporting casts'... especially Janice Rule. An amazing and audacious film in my opinion and brother, is Burt Lancaster fit or what?? He'd shame many a man his age in today's America.
Macon County Line
(1974)
A neat little film.
11 October 2019
I'm not going to say it's 'great' which is an overused word, but it is lean, naturally acted and economically put together. All in a good way. I'd recommend it, but fast forward through the lovemaking in a tank of water. Ick.
Dreadfully pretentious..
26 September 2019
And portentious. Dropped in to see Jo Van Fleet's performance which verges on the ridiculous (think Joan Crawford in Straitjacket, without the axe nonsense) and sitting through it was relatively hard work. Route 66 had some dreadful episodes and this is one of them. Watched, by the way, on an Oculus Go which made it all encompassing, a strange claustrophobic experience!
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