Movie review - "The Cat and the Canary" (1978) **

 Straight old timey chiller from porn filmmaker Radley Metzger, who does a solid job. I like the genre - will readers and people who have to survive until dawn. There's not a lot of humour in it or that much suspense, but it's fine. Baddie conveniently waits a long time to kill heroine so enable male lead to come to rescue.

Cast is B/C list, I guess except Wendy Hiller who is a the housekeeper. Wilfid Hyde White is the deceased (in a video) and Carol Lynley bad, all awkward and dull, as the female lead. Michael Callan gets a decent later film role as her paramour who may or may not be bad. There's people like Daniel Massey and Peter McEnery who you'll vaguely recognise and others like Honor Blackman and Olivia Hussey (who probs should've played the lead  -she does "scared" very well) who you will recognise.

Play review - "Look After Lulu" by Noel Coward (1959)

 Look, this was okay and you imagine could be a fun night out. Coward adapts Feydeau so it's set in Paris in 1908 with mistresses, maids, soldiers, Russian counts, misunderstanding. Lulu is a courtesan/mistress/dream part for ageing star whose boyfriend goes away for a few weeks. She fake marries his bestie for cash, which is risky, the boyfriend finds out and ensures it's a real marriage. 

The plotting is a still watery which surprises me - they don't really do much with the character of the horny Russian prince who wants Lulu, or use the girl who loves Lulu's fake fiance.

It's bright enough. There's some fourth wall breaking eg making gags "you wouldn't believe it if it was on stage" and recaps on the plot - which are dicey when the work isn't that good.

Vivien Leigh played this in London.

TV Review - "The Marvelous Mrs Maisel - Season 4" (2022) **

 They've fallen in love with production design and tracking shots rather than scripts. There's one really good episode when Jane Lynch makes a comeback and the some bright moments throughout (a funny Jackie Kennedy gag, the guy who plays Lenny Bruce is really good) but there's no soul to it, just production design, which is admittedly superb.

Play review - "Quadrille" by Noel Coward (1952)

 Coward famously collaborated with the Lunts on Design for Living but could never get the magic back though he tried. Maybe if you liked the Lunts and saw it this was fun. It's not great to read. For some reason it's set in the nineteenth century as if to hide the fact the story is a version of Private Lives - a couple married to other people run off together and their partners, the heroes, set off in pursuit and they fall in love.

It was a drag to read. The characters weren't funny not terrible individual (one liked trains another was an industrialist). I didn't like these people and the action felt padded. Maybe as a one act play this would've worked.

Movie review - "Empire Records" (1995) **

 I missed the cult of this but it has its charms especially as a period piece - Gen X, floppy hair, flannos, boots, the "day in the life of a [insert thing]" structure, the music, record stores. The record store seems very big and the casting director had a great day - Ethan Embry, Liv Tyler, Rene Zellweger, Robin Tunney. Rory Cochrane is fun and a skinny Antony La Paglia has floppy hair.

It's not High Fidelity but it's its own thing. There is camraderie and mugging. I didn't like that lack of reality - it never felt like a real record store and no one seemed to do any work. Would an indie store have a day devoted to a fading 80s idol (Maxwell Caulfield having a ball)? Liv Tyler throws herself at him, rips off her clothes to get in her underwear... he asks for oral sex... and then Liv feels cheap? Then Rene Zellweger goes and sleeps with him and that's bad because...? 

There's some young floppy haired boy and La Paglia's older floppy haired guy who doesn't get a "staff with crush on him" story. The stories are a mixture of cartoons and heavy drama (neglected kid, Liv Tyler's hooked on bennies, Robin Tunney shaved her head and... something).

Look the actors are pretty and have charisma. I can see why no one wen to see it when it came out.

Movie review - "The Stowaway" (1958) **

 Odd. So odd. Why did Lee Robinson/ make it? I know Walk into Paradise worked well but that was an Australian story... this is a French story. I think he was dazzled by stars and the nous of his production partners. I get it. Why did he invest in it though? 

The story is wonky. Simple Macguffin - search for the heir to millions. People after it - lawyer (Reg Lye), another lawyer (Roger Livesey), crook (Serge Reggiani), hooker ex of man (Martine Carol), man who's in love with her (Karl Boehm).  That's a decent Warner Bros style gang.

But... who's our hero? Carol's top billed... sure, fine. She gets involved, gets Boehm to help her. But then... falls in love with Boehm for real, I think, wants to go straight, then blabs to Reggiani about Livesey for some reason, then sort of becomes passive. Needed to be a proper Carol vehicle. I wasn't sure what she wanted. Money to start off with. But then...? The romance with Boehm is half baked.

Why did Robinson think a film with so much dubbed English dialogue would work? Why not cast Chips Rafferty in the Roger Livesey part? He would've been great. A different variation but more charismatic. I wonder if it was floated. I bet Rafferty thought he could do it.

There's some nice location work but so much of it is inside and there's a lot of chat. Too much. It feels studio bound. A lot is set on a boat. Doesn't play to Robinson's strengths.

I was confused at the end. What was Reggiani trying to do? Who was on his side? Boehm's side? What's the role of the crew? They don't find the heir!It just ends!

Acting pretty good. Carol an odd star - she looks like a Gold Coast cougar, with her deep tan and peroxide blonde hair. Boehm was solid. Livesey and Lye are fine. James Condon has a few lines as ship's purser. Doris Fitton has like one line.

Credits of film different on Australian and French versions. French version ran ten minutes longer to the one I saw and fleshed out more - more Carol, and Carol-Boehm. Felt more logical even if I couldn't understand what was going on.

This film reminds me of late 50s Rank attempts to storm the world market eg Whirlpool with its colour, foreign locations and cosmopolitan casts.

Movie review - "It Isn't Done" (1937) ***1/2 (warning: spoilers)

 The film that marked a new dawn at Cinesound - the Frank Harvey era, when he started writing scripts. There were other elements too but basically the whole studio became much more professional.

It's a little creaky, the pacing is off sometimes, but it's a warm affectionate movie. Cecil Kellaway is a lovely star - affable family man, slyly comic, fond of a drink, a little ditzy but not dumb. I enjoyed his impression of a koala bear. The vehicle adjusts around his persona - a Bert Bailey or George Wallace version of this would be far broader.

The film pokes gentle fun at the culture clash - Kellaway struggling to deal with a butler (Harvey Adams), getting drunk in the manor. Nellie Ferguson doesn't have much to do as Kellaway's wife. Shirley Ann Richards is green but lovely as Kellaway's daughter - photogenic, looks pretty, has a lovely warm relationship with her dad.

John Longden is a little too old for the love interest but at least he can act. He's a writer hero (Frank Harvey's influence? Carl Dudley's?)

There's impressive spectacle with a fox hunt and a ball. The film is actually best in its dramatic moments - the snobbery encountered by the family, whether the meanness from Frank Harvey's lord (shoving them in a library during a dinner party when they realise who they've invited - this is well done), the casual snobbishness of Aussies abroad (Campbell Copelin and his mother are tremendous fun), Harvey and Kellaway realising their sons died in the same day (lovely moment with a little lonely lady also putting down a wreath - she's not attached to the story, it's just lovely flavour) and bonding. Harvey Adams is funny as the butler and its great he goes to Australia at the end.