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Reviews
The Card (1952)
It Takes Cheek To Succeed
With a tagline "He's the cheekiest man in town!" The Card (Alec Guinness, Glynis Johns) will teach you a few tricks about how to make it in business from scratch.
While you watch Denry (Alec Guinness) stride through his blueprint for fortune, don't miss the smart tactics of Ruth (Glynis Johns). No wonder he chose to marry the soft Nellie; Ruth was sharp competition (but how did he resist those amorous blue eyes and pouting appeals?). She urged him to stand for mayor when Nellie was happy with pennies. It's a satisfying ending, but Denry would have been a bigger cracker with Ruth.
Writers and entrepreneurs: view it with notebook and pen. It's a 9-star must.
A Piece of Cake (1948)
What You See Is What You Get
With war-time rations, a writing deadline with his publisher and a miserable birthday party ahead, Cyril Clarke is not in a candle-blowing mood. With a rush of inspiration he manages to finish the poem, a peculiar ode about a magickal fellow named Merlin Mound.
There is knock at the door that evening at the party (Betty Clarke has only cold sausage to offer the guests). The slimy looking Merlin Mound enters, proposing to ladle them with luxuries.
Merlin to Betty: "I received your husband's message and came at once."
Cyril to Betty: "He's the exact image of the character in the ode I finished this evening."
Cyril then gleefully wishes for a slap-up dinner. Merlin spins his tie and takes dinner from another party and materializes it in the dining room. He swipes a bottle of port from an ancient castle. With a swoosh he fills Betty's wardrobe with designer gowns that he has stripped from ladies at a rich party.
The guests are wondering how the Clarke's do it. One, (Mr Short, a government man) is calculating their coupon rations and tallying up food items.
A tiered cake arrives with a band; all stolen by Merlin.
Merlin moves in and continues to produce. They think they have a genie.
Mr Short, a government food inspector, arrives the next morning on an official visit concerning the Clarke's observed luxury. People start arriving, wanting their goods back. The band wants their food and cake. Gangsters demand their dames' dresses be returned.
Merlin flashes over the problem by manifesting a pile of money. In desperation to rid themselves of this trouble-making jester, Cyril adds banishing lines to the ode.
Merlin returns as a devilish trickster.
The gangsters discover their loot has gone from the safe, while Mr Short reports a safe full of coupons have disappeared. Betty begins to say a couple of lines of poetry in the hope of spoofing away Merlin but he spirits her away to Doomsday Hall.
Cyril is pursued by the gangsters and the government.
Wacky scenes in a cardboard castle follow.
Cyril shouts:
"I'll make you finally disappear By putting fireworks in your beer Then belching fireballs - reds and greens
You'll blow yourself to smithereens."
Cyril wakes from this fizzy dream to a birthday party and cold sausage.
It's an understandable tale of war-time rationing. One might consider writing odes to Merlin. Here is the ode if you are tempted:
Ode (composed by Cyril Fletcher who played Cyril Clarke)
When making magic, Merlin Mound
would start his bow tie spinning round
He found the magic quite a strain
for he took off like an aeroplane
So to weigh him down next to his skin
he wore combinations made of tin
Also wore a Norfolk suit
and one elastic-sided boot
Then the departed, most surprised
he found his combs. were magnetized
Before his guilty secret showed
he had spun his tie and shed his load
(adding later as the adventures proceeded)
Your machinations make me sick
Go back and conjure for old nick
(then finally adds)
I'll make you finally disappear
by putting fireworks in your beer
Then belching fireballs - reds and greens...
You'll blow yourself to smithereens
Laura (1944)
Drifting Away
The drifting music of Laura melts us into the portrait of a murdered beauty. We are infatuated. Vincent price walks into the scene and all we see is his usual handsome, tall and most charming presence. Judith Anderson claims your attention as she did in another unforgettable movie "Rebecca." Laura is cool and ravishing.
After all though, I was subdued by Clifton Web, as the splendidly audacious Waldo Lydecker. His words are choice and sautéed in lemon juice; a wonderful contrast to Laura. I must agree with him, when gum-chewing Detective Lieutenant Mark McPherson has become infatuated with the portrait of Laura, he sneers "Have you ever dreamed of Laura as you wife, sitting by your side at the policeman's ball or in the bleachers... or listening to the heroic story of how you got a silver shinbone from a battle with a gangster? (pauses) ...I see you have." Laura's image does not transform into a housewife.
Dangerous Corner (1934)
Study Maude Mockeridge
I passed by the bond theft and supposed suicide which were a spin of accusations,(secret loves are disclosed; sham marriages revealed; questions about who shot Martin fly everywhere) preferring to ponder on the character of Maude Mockeridge, famous author. (She reminded me of Joan Hickson as Miss Marple, though in a more glamorous tone).
In the opening scene: Ann (a partner in a publishing business) is about to host a breakfast interview on her apartment balcony for romance author Maud Mockeridge. She carefully arranges the author's books in a flattering display. The English lady novelist has already published "A Flame", "Scarlet Flowers", "Burnt Wings" and "Paradise For Two". They discuss her new book "Ecstasy" and a possible contract.
Later that morning Ann joins the publishing group and joyfully announces that she has secured a three year contact with Miss Mockeridge. Next month "Ecstasy" will be ready. Six months later "Emma The Passionate" and in one year "Sleeping Dog".
The twist at the end? How it might have been followed by how it really ended
no body revealed anything!
There's Always a Thursday (1957)
He didn't know he had it in him.
While the movie may seem rather mild, the point was how Potter became a lingerie designer in a swish office with his family cashing in on the talent and wealth.
It was one bold blonde who, in a naughty moment pushed trembling Potter into a business he never could have dreamed of. He began to act the role that he had been assigned and thus the imagery projected into reality. It shows what a smart cookie can do. She should have been paid more!
I liked her line: "Well, dig that crazy Pottie!" When she laughed that out he was a weak, fumbling, middle-aged husband, afraid of a kiss.
Innocent Sinners (1958)
Lovejoy's Garden
A mother, who cares more for backstage glitter and male acquaintances, dumps her daughter Lovejoy with poor relatives. This couple struggle to run a tiny, though elegant restaurant; supporting Lovejoy is a hardship. They don't even have a refrigerator.
The little girl is motivated, zingy and quite disarming. Adamant on obtaining her wishes, she sets up a garden in a bombed churchyard and secures seeds with wit. Her close friend is a quite, steady boy who gladly assists. Lovejoy finds sympathy in a delicate elderly lady who has a weak heart and a no-nonsense sister.
A few shocks enter the story as Lovejoy is sent to a home for unwanted children just as the old lady dies. Not knowing of her passing, Lovejoy arrives at the door of her house, requesting the maid to give the lady her rose bush as she is moving away. The grieving sister holds the plant and sees a new view of life. A change in the old lady's will imparts relief to Lovejoy's relatives who can now decorate the restaurant they visualized. Everything slots in with a warm-hearted, cheery ending. An embracing movie in the classic style.