Fun Esther Williams movie which has an enjoyable family feel - she's part of a super athletic family who decide to swum the English Channel. Fernando Lamas is the lecherous Frenchman she meets when he's yachting in the channel - he goes the grope but it's tempered because they married in real life and Lamas looks like he can swim.
William Demarest is dad, Jack Carson is Williams' manager and Charles Walters directs with a nice light touch. There's not much conflict except swimming the Channel - I like that Williams did this and Lamas supported her (the writer was a woman, Dorothy Kingsley).
Williams has a friend who is played by Denise Darcel another non-discovery of Dore Schary's. It feels as though it was written for Debbie Reynolds - and it was! There's not too much Jack Carson (a little of him goes a long way for me). The mood is bright and cheery. Tom and Jerry do a number with Esther.
Friday, January 31, 2020
Thursday, January 30, 2020
Movie review - "The World of Henry Orient" (1964) ***
Sweet, charming film about two 14 year old girls on the loose in New York City, having adventures, telling white lies that get mistaken for the truth and (one of them) obsessing over a pianist based on Oscar Levant (Peter Sellers).
Sellers is great fun as is Paula Prentiss as the married woman he keeps trying to shag but gets interrupted. These two are great together - but then Prentiss was one of the best comics of the 60s.
The real stars are the girls, who bond instantly with their fantasy worlds, and broken homes - the movie is very moving on the topic of divorce.
New York looks lovely. So clean. And the adults, while bossy, at least care. Well, everyone except Angela Lansbury who is a slightly too convenient villain with nice Tom Bosley as dad... but he did ignore his child too. Having said that the depiction of Lansbury's adultery is well done, and the scene where Bosley bonds with his daughter is lovely.
I can see why the film wasn't a big hit - it is slow in paces and doesn't have a strong narrative drive. It feels long.
There are some racist-ish jokes which haven't worn well - the girls joking about being ravished by the Chinese and what not. But it's a movie made with affection and care.
Sellers is great fun as is Paula Prentiss as the married woman he keeps trying to shag but gets interrupted. These two are great together - but then Prentiss was one of the best comics of the 60s.
The real stars are the girls, who bond instantly with their fantasy worlds, and broken homes - the movie is very moving on the topic of divorce.
New York looks lovely. So clean. And the adults, while bossy, at least care. Well, everyone except Angela Lansbury who is a slightly too convenient villain with nice Tom Bosley as dad... but he did ignore his child too. Having said that the depiction of Lansbury's adultery is well done, and the scene where Bosley bonds with his daughter is lovely.
I can see why the film wasn't a big hit - it is slow in paces and doesn't have a strong narrative drive. It feels long.
There are some racist-ish jokes which haven't worn well - the girls joking about being ravished by the Chinese and what not. But it's a movie made with affection and care.
Wednesday, January 29, 2020
Movie review - "The Operation" (1973) *
George Lazenby usually makes it sound like he went from James Bond to Hong Kong, but he made a few films in between - an Italian flick called Who Saw Her Die? and this British TV movie, a Play for Today. I assumed this would be studio bound and cheap but it looks great - location filming, on film. I liked Roy Battersby's direction.
But it's a dumb story. So dumb. Dramatically bad. Maybe there's depth I'm not aware of. I don't think so. It's got early 70s in Britain smugness against captalism but makes it's own argument so badly.
The plot should be simple but is needlessly confusing. George Lazenby is a property developer who wants to knock down a building but there's a tenant who won't leave. He seduces the man's wife... but... he seems to like her, I think. The tenant won't leave because he's "built it up himself" even though he took over from his father and Lazenby offered him a lease in the new building. And when Lazenby seduces the wife it's no shock because the grocer hosts key parties.
Lazenby has this former best friend who is on the dole for five years who he gives a job to... um... be nice to the wife, even though he's hooked up with the wife (we don't see it, it happens off screen), and the wife and the friend hang out and get into bed together platonically and she has plastic surgery and.... I think at the end that's Lazenby dressed up in a uniform to have some bondage with the wife and they get shot by the husband.
It's weird. Lazenby answers the door to his friend and goes sorry I'm having a bath, hops in the bath and gets out again. Maybe it's art. I think it's just inept.
It's great to see Lazenby as a developer - he's got swagger and I buy him in the part (they cover his accent by saying he went away to school in Australia and worked as a car salesman). I wish he'd been able to play just a good old ruthless tycoon but they but away to this boring friend who wasn't really a friend and hasn't worked for five years so who cares about his crisis of conscience. Who cares about the grocer. I mean, the building has to be knocked down doesnt it? Why is that bad? What am I missing?
There is novelty seeing Lazenby in the lead in a drama and a British TV movie of the early 70s with a councillor getting a blow job, and a party which ends in a key party, and some bondage. The 70s were wild.
But it's a dumb story. So dumb. Dramatically bad. Maybe there's depth I'm not aware of. I don't think so. It's got early 70s in Britain smugness against captalism but makes it's own argument so badly.
The plot should be simple but is needlessly confusing. George Lazenby is a property developer who wants to knock down a building but there's a tenant who won't leave. He seduces the man's wife... but... he seems to like her, I think. The tenant won't leave because he's "built it up himself" even though he took over from his father and Lazenby offered him a lease in the new building. And when Lazenby seduces the wife it's no shock because the grocer hosts key parties.
Lazenby has this former best friend who is on the dole for five years who he gives a job to... um... be nice to the wife, even though he's hooked up with the wife (we don't see it, it happens off screen), and the wife and the friend hang out and get into bed together platonically and she has plastic surgery and.... I think at the end that's Lazenby dressed up in a uniform to have some bondage with the wife and they get shot by the husband.
It's weird. Lazenby answers the door to his friend and goes sorry I'm having a bath, hops in the bath and gets out again. Maybe it's art. I think it's just inept.
It's great to see Lazenby as a developer - he's got swagger and I buy him in the part (they cover his accent by saying he went away to school in Australia and worked as a car salesman). I wish he'd been able to play just a good old ruthless tycoon but they but away to this boring friend who wasn't really a friend and hasn't worked for five years so who cares about his crisis of conscience. Who cares about the grocer. I mean, the building has to be knocked down doesnt it? Why is that bad? What am I missing?
There is novelty seeing Lazenby in the lead in a drama and a British TV movie of the early 70s with a councillor getting a blow job, and a party which ends in a key party, and some bondage. The 70s were wild.
Monday, January 27, 2020
Movie review - "Body Double" (1984) *** (warning: spoilers)
I remember really liking the screenplay but the film isn't as much fun. Some things which read fine on the page seem silly on screen - like Craig Wasson's tracking of a girl, when he's like literally one step behind, or the girl dancing in her underwear at home, or the make up of the "Indian".
It's a film of two halves - the first is a Vertigo rip off with Wasson perving on the girl next door who is meant to be Melanie Griffith impersonating a girl but really seems to be not Melanie Griffith and she dances at home in such an outlandish way. There's lots of Wasson following the girl around then they make up then it climaxes with this horrid drill murder - a death that is affecting because the girl knows the killer is there, she escapes, and cries out, and almost gets away, then is drilled to death... it's very unsettling and unpleasant and drawn out.
Then the second half it's more a wacky screwball comedy with Wasson investigating, going undercover in the porn industry, having sex with Melanie Griffith (lots of fun) who's a porn star, appearing in a Frankie Goes to Hollywood clip. Griffith's life is threatened but that feels more fun and games, and Wasson's life is saved by a dog.
Wasson isn't much of a lead, Griffith is fun (she should have played the lead), there's a lot of boobs (Griffith, Barbara Crampton, that girl at the end in the shower who really gets lingered over).
It's a film of two halves - the first is a Vertigo rip off with Wasson perving on the girl next door who is meant to be Melanie Griffith impersonating a girl but really seems to be not Melanie Griffith and she dances at home in such an outlandish way. There's lots of Wasson following the girl around then they make up then it climaxes with this horrid drill murder - a death that is affecting because the girl knows the killer is there, she escapes, and cries out, and almost gets away, then is drilled to death... it's very unsettling and unpleasant and drawn out.
Then the second half it's more a wacky screwball comedy with Wasson investigating, going undercover in the porn industry, having sex with Melanie Griffith (lots of fun) who's a porn star, appearing in a Frankie Goes to Hollywood clip. Griffith's life is threatened but that feels more fun and games, and Wasson's life is saved by a dog.
Wasson isn't much of a lead, Griffith is fun (she should have played the lead), there's a lot of boobs (Griffith, Barbara Crampton, that girl at the end in the shower who really gets lingered over).
Sunday, January 26, 2020
Movie review - "The Foreigner" (2003) **
One of the first Seagal films that went straight to video and still earned a lot of money, determining the shape of his career for the next decade. He's a courier who gets involved in shenanigans around a package. There's some cultured evil British accents, a black actor being nasty, a damsel who has quite a big part (Anna Louise Plowman).
Some potentially interesting subplots are not developed - Seagal being haunted by the death of his father, and having a brother, and looking after a kid. Sometimes he is clearly doubled, and he is too tubby for some of the fight scenes.
It was shot in Poland which is surely prettier than as depicted here. Kate Fischer apparently has a small role but I must have blinked and missed her.
Some potentially interesting subplots are not developed - Seagal being haunted by the death of his father, and having a brother, and looking after a kid. Sometimes he is clearly doubled, and he is too tubby for some of the fight scenes.
It was shot in Poland which is surely prettier than as depicted here. Kate Fischer apparently has a small role but I must have blinked and missed her.
Saturday, January 25, 2020
Movie review - "Dancers in the Dark" (1932) **
There's some pre Code fun to be had in the reputation of Miriam Hopkins' character in this film - she was a girl who got around including a romance with Jack Oakie and George Raft, but now she's in love with this wet musician, William Collier Jr.
It's not much of a movie - its kind of a musical with the action stopping for numbers (it's set around a night club, Hopkins sings, the other girl sings, Oakie is a bandleader). You might like it if you're into Hopkins who does try and her fans will be interested in her singing. Raft is good value - he was growing in confidence by this stage. Oakie sexually molests Hopkins but he's not a bad guy apparently. Raft keeps things lively, Collier is wet.
It's not much of a movie - its kind of a musical with the action stopping for numbers (it's set around a night club, Hopkins sings, the other girl sings, Oakie is a bandleader). You might like it if you're into Hopkins who does try and her fans will be interested in her singing. Raft is good value - he was growing in confidence by this stage. Oakie sexually molests Hopkins but he's not a bad guy apparently. Raft keeps things lively, Collier is wet.
Movie review - "All of Me" (1934) ** (warning: spoilers)
An odd film. The story of two romances - college lecturer Frederic March whose girlfriend Miriam Hopkins doesn't want to get married, and crim George Raft and his girl Helen Mack. The love of Mack and Raft makes Hopkins decide to marry Raft.
Why did Paramount make this? I read a contemporary review which wondered if the reels were out of order. And it feels like it. You didn't need the March/Hopkins stuff - really the meat is in the Raft/Mack romance, the love of a woman for a convict who loves her but can't help being bad.
It's actually one of Raft's best performances - he seems natural, intense - the director was James Flood, who I'd never heard of. Mack is effective too and Hopkins has some fine moments - she can't sustain her Miriam Hopkins erratic-ness but sometimes hits the nail on the head. I'm not a March fan - he does his ham intensity well enough. There are some interesting dimly lit scenes which feel emotionally strong.
But it's a silly story.
Why did Paramount make this? I read a contemporary review which wondered if the reels were out of order. And it feels like it. You didn't need the March/Hopkins stuff - really the meat is in the Raft/Mack romance, the love of a woman for a convict who loves her but can't help being bad.
It's actually one of Raft's best performances - he seems natural, intense - the director was James Flood, who I'd never heard of. Mack is effective too and Hopkins has some fine moments - she can't sustain her Miriam Hopkins erratic-ness but sometimes hits the nail on the head. I'm not a March fan - he does his ham intensity well enough. There are some interesting dimly lit scenes which feel emotionally strong.
But it's a silly story.
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