Movie review - "The King's Thief" (1955) **

 The theft of the crown jewels by Thomas Blood has the material for a fun swashbuckler. This one shoehorns that episode at the end uneasily to a tale about a highwayman in Charles II era fighting to defend the Crown against villainous noble David Niven.

The movie is mostly notable for George Sanders playing Charles II - if he'd depicted the hero or villain the movie might've been fun. Niven is hilariously miscast as the baddy - I'm not sure he would've suited the hero part either but he would've been better than Edmund Purdom.

The movie has all the excitement and humour sucked out of it. Purdom is dull but he has no character to play other than "brave". His group of men lack any individuality or character - they include Roger Moore, but just try telling them apart. 

Dore Schary oversaw so many badly made  "commercial" films in the 1950s. This is so bland. Dull script, doesn't dramatise things like the death of Ann Blyth's dad. Blyth does little. Just rips off Robin Hood.

Nice production values - it's an "A" picture. That's about it. 

Movie review - "The Girl from Rio" (1969) **1/2

 Harry Alan Towers kind of sequel to Sumuru with Shirley Eaton again in that role although she has a slightly different name. It's like a lot of Towers/Franco films - it looks good, has a dreamlike state, is confusing, continuity is weird. Lots of nudity.

Eaton makes a splendid villain. Sanders is looking old and only a few years away from suicide but that has its own appeal now the years have gone on.

Someone called Richard Wyler is the hero, I guess, who is kidnapped by Eaton. 

Movie review - "The Seventh Sin" (1957) **

 A complete hash by MGM. In the 1950s they remade a lot of its old hits - not a bad idea especially if they had colour and proper stars. This has cinemascope but is in black and white and inappropriate stars.

The throughlines of Somerset Maugham's novel is clear - a woman is silly and selfish, has an affair, realises her husband isn't that bad and the guy she cheated with is useless. That doesn't come across here. 

The script is partly to blame - it introduces the lover (Jean Pierre Aumont) but then gets rid of him; we never see him again or his wife. But mostly I think it's the casting. Eleanor Parker is lovely, and a competent actress but is far too sensible for the lead crying out for original choice Ava Gardner, or Elizabeth Taylor or simply someone more of a hot mess. Bill Travers is amateur hour as the husband. He needs to be in love with his wife but hating it, and heroic, but he can't do it, Aumont is just whatever. George Sanders steals the film as a quippy doctor where the big reveal is his wife is Asian and happy because he's docile. Sanders sound have played travers' part. Or Aumonts'. Gosh, imagine Tom Conway and Sanders in this.

The shoot was difficult - Ronald Neame and David Lewis were sacked - but the film was dead to begin with due to casting and inept script. 

Movie review - "Good Times" (1967) **1/2 (re-watching)

 Sonny and Cher film was financed by Steve Broidy, formerly of Allied Artists, and randomly directed by William Friedkin.

Fun sketches. But they're sketches. It's like an episode of a variety show. Dumb plot where George Sanders offers to fund a movie and then insists on them sticking to a dumb script and threatening to sue Sonny and Cher and the singers stick to their guns and Sanders respects him. That's dumb. Don't sign the contract, dude. Smart arse boomer stuff.

One stand out number - "Good Times" with dancers. Fans of the duo will enjoy it. Should've been made for not much money. Went over budget due to Friedkin. Not dull. 

George Sanders Top Ten

 1) Action in Arabia (1944) - George Sanders as a conventional hero

2) Rebecca (1940) - almost steals the film as Rebecca's "cousin"

3) The Black Swan (1942) - in a red beard as a pirate!

4) Samson and Delilah (1949) - excellent villain toasting the temple as it falls on him

5) Ivanhoe (1952) - another excellent baddy role, complex, in love with Rebecca 

6) The Saint Strikes Back (1939) - enormous fun

7) Call Me Madam (1953) - he sings, and well

8) Psychomania (1971) - sad bc it was his last film but what nutty gloriousness to go out on

9) Son of Monte Cristo (1940) - terrific villain and death

10) All About Eve (1950) - oh I guess so...

Movie review - "That Kind of Woman" (1959) ***

 Fascinating. Because on one hand it's a good movie - Sidney Lumet directs with sensitivity, Tab Hunter has never been better (seriously), Sophia Loren is charismatic and terrific, Jack Warden offers a strong support part, George Sanders is accomplished as Loren's lover. The black and white photography works as does the location filming.

But the movie doesn't work. I didn't buy it. Didn't buy Loren falling for Hunter, and being reluctant to leave because of her lover. I buy his infatuation. But she's too mature, too gorgeous, she has too many options.

Maybe this would've worked in Italy, war torn Italy and she's a mistress to provide and she's never felt love before. I think that's it... Loren has clearly felt love before. Hunter isn't it for him. 

Maybe it would've worked Deep Blue Sea style with the lead girl being bland and dull with a dull boyfriend and this charismatic type whisks her away.

Marilyn Monroe Top Ten

 Not many films but anyway

1) Some Like It Hot (1959) - easy choice, so perfect... imagine Mitzi Gaynr in this. No thanks.

2) Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) - again, easy choice - shame she was never reteamed with Russell.

3) How to Marry a Millionaire (1953) - glorious fun. Steals movie. 

4) Bus Stop (1956) - I recall Don Murray being creepy and Marilyn being great.

5) All About Eve (1951) - one scene but a great one.

6) The Misfits (1961) - flawed, but marvelous

7) Niagara (1953) - she's probably miscast but it's a good movie.

8) There's No Business Like Show Business (1954) - hokey story but those song and dance numbers!

9) The Seven Year Itch (1955) - icon.

10) Don't Bother to Knock (1952) - haven't seen this in ages just throwing it in there.

Movie review - "Bitter Sweet" (1940) **

 Noel Coward disliked this version of his operetta and it's not hard to see why - but also I'm sympathetic to MGM, who needed a film for MacDonald and Eddy. It removes the opening device of the old heroine telling a young couple about her life in flashback because it was used in an earlier film Maytime. But that robs the piece of its point. Also the two stars are too old.

It's overproduced, the colour seems pointless somehow, there's lots of hammy support actors - George Sanders goes full Teutonic as the nasty noble after MacDonald. She's okay, Eddy's stiff.

Some of the songs were well done, particularly the last number. But this film was annoying. They didn't even give Eddy a chance to put up a decent fight in the duel with Sanders - Sanders just skewers him (which to be fair is realistic but it de-balls him). MacDonald doesn't even seem to care. The actors were probably over each other by now.

I'd forgotten I'd seen a bunch of MacDonald-Eddy movies. They didn't linger in my memory.

Movie review - "The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders" (1965) **

 The public that turned out in large numbers for Tom Jones didn't come to this. Maybe it was Kim Novak versus Albert Finney and definitely director Terence Young isn't known for his comedy (comedy in Bond films is very different). 

One reviewer wondered if people preferred to see men behaving badly in a sexual way to women but I'm not sure that's true - few films were more popular than Gone with the Wind or The Wicked Lady. But those two films have what this doesn't - clearly defined goals. Scarlett O'Hara wanted Ashley - it propelled her through the whole film, into three marriages, through a war, to even help Ashley's wife. Lady Skelton wanted excitement (and also true love) because she was recovering from the death of her mother.

Moll Flanders is ill defined here. What does she want? What drives her? It would've been easy to adjust what's here. She could've forever loved that dissolute rich brother at the beginning, sought vengeance on him.

Similar mistakes were made incidentally on the adaptation of Forever Amber. 

The other thing those successful films had which the unsuccessful ones doesn't is a "good" character to contrast. Moll/Novak needed a "good girl" to compare to and also there needed to be two guys who loved her truly. Richard Johnson is there for one. 

There's sped up cameras, and the cast that tries - no one is slumming and some are perfect: Leo McKern, Lili Palmer, Angela Lansbury, George Sanders, etc. There is real heat in the scenes between Novak and Johnson - they fell in love - and the film would've been much better if it had centered around their relationship.

These films are hard to do. Terence Young can't pull it off. But the biggest issue isn't even Novak's performance it's an inability to convey what Moll Flanders is or why she is the way she is or why she does what she does. She sort of goes from one set piece to another. The skinny dips which is fun but not enough.

Movie review - "Call Me Madam" (1953) ****

 Not regarded as one of the great Hollywood musicals but I really liked it. Ethel Merman blasting her way through a perfect vehicle for her, an ambassador to a small European country. Actually everyone is well cast - Donald O'Connor is charming as her press attache (they have a lovely relationship), Billy de Wolfe fun as the snobby ambassador staff, George Sanders has fun singing as the guy who Merman falls in love with, Vera Ellen's limitations as an actor are protected by putting on the accent and she has some wonderful dances. It's full of colour and fun and is just good natured delight.  Walter Lang deserves more credit.

Movie review - "Action in Arabia" (1944) *** (re-watching)

 Fun RKO A minus I think you'd call it. Clearly inspired by Warner Bros movies of this time - RKO didn't make a lot in this line. Quentin Tarantino really likes this movie. Jaunty fun. Great to see Sanders as a heroic leading man.

Movie review - Pink Panther#2 - "A Shot in the Dark" (1964) ***

 The second Clouseau film is based on a play that had nothing to do with him, but is the one that introduced Dreyfuss (Herbert Lom) and Kato (Burt Kwouk).  It's not bad - very French. Elke Sommer is fun as the maid Clouseau believes is innocent despite all evidence to the contrary. Some slapstick. A lot of slapstick actually. I did prefer the first movie but this has it's own style. A decent mystery.

George Sanders looks old. Bryan Forbes makes a cameo in the nudist sequence.

Movie review - "Good Times" (1967) ** (warning: spoilers)

 Sonny and Cher's only starring movie - though they made Chastity starring Cher - is a ramshackle effort with a everything-and-the-kitchen-sink-revue type feel, but has its charms. The 'Good Times' number is genuinely rousing: a fun song with a great dancing section (high kicks in bloomers on the bar). Sonny and Cher seem to be having fun. It's like a forerunner of their TV show - with send ups of Westerns, private eye films, Tarzan movies.

The middle plot is kind of serious (ish) - George Sanders insists they make a movie, Sonny signs, but has artistic doubts, Sanders insists they honour the contract, Sonny gets in a mood and things become all serious, he fights with Cher, then he sticks to his guns and Sanders lets him go... he respects the man, dammit. So, reality.

Sonny looks odd without a moustache.

Movie review - "Jupiter's Darling" (1955) **1/2

 The film that ended Esther Williams' career at MGM. It's bizarre in that she went out on such a resolutely untypical film - sure its got George Sidney, Dorothy Kingsley and Howard Keel, but it's a musical satire about Hannibal invading.

The script was written by a woman which may explain why Esther's character is more in charge- she goes out to meet Hannibal, played by Keel in one of his best performances.

The tunes are fine. The Marge and Gower Champion dancing with elephants is cute. The Champions aren't much as actors - this is a debit. The number which is pro slavery is a bit yuck. George Sanders feels under utilised. There's a fair amount of action.

This film is odd - but done with that MGM pizzaz. And it's sheer randomness is endearing.

Movie review - "King Richard and the Crusaders" (1954) **1/2

 Better than I'd been led to believe. Laurence Harvey is quite good as a dashing knight hero. Virginia Mayo is silly. Rex Harrison is in brownface and sings songs but he's fun. So too is George Sanders.

It was expensive but a lot of scenes look cheap - two actors in a tent. George Sanders spends a lot of time lying down in bed sick. The plot has nasty English knights trying to cause trouble. It's actually quite nice to the Arabs, this movie.

It's just so silly but there's lots of action and at least the three male leads are all uniformly miscast so it works coherently. Michael Pate is a villain as is Robert Douglas. Virginia Mayo is there.

The Medveds listed this among the 50 Worst Movies of All Time. That is not, not true. I mean it's dumb but... I was taken with it.

They get around the dodginess of the Crusades by having Harrison help Sanders take out some treacherous knights.

Movie review - "Action in Arabia" (1944) *** (re-watching)

George Sanders in a bright Casablanca knock off at RKO - where Bs like this were more A minuses.  I love seeing Sanders as a hero.

There's a jaunty support cast full of vaguely familiar playrs. Lenore Aubert the second female lead speaks a lot like Ingrid Bergman. She's introduced too late in the day - the first half of the movie is shenangians in a nightclub the second half is action stuff in the desert with an arab leader. It feels like the film was heavily rewritten at some stage.

The direction isn't particularly energetic and I felt it slacked off as they left the city. But it has charm, the novelty of the setting and Sanders in action mode.

Movie review - "The Whole Truth" (1958) *** (warning: spoilers)

One of a few films that pulled the air out of the tires of Stewart Granger's film career post MGM. You can see why he made it though - it was from Romulus, and was directed by John Guillermin, the budget afforded an American co star (Donna Reed) it was based on a popular play.

Many critics said this was similar to Dial M for Murder and I can see why - it was based on a TV play which became a stage play, has a few twists and turns.

It's not as skilled though director John Guillermin does a good job. It starts brilliantly with  George Sanders meeting Stewart Granger at a party saying he's a detective and Granger's ex mistress has been murdered. Granger freaks and goes to retrieve some things of his at the mistress's house. Granger then sees the mistress is alive and freaks out. He takes her home. She's murdered. He's a suspect. Sanders appears and says he's no detective, he's her husband... and says Granger did it. Evidence points to Granger. Sanders admits he did it... but wants Granger to swing for it.

Up to this point I was going "wow" but couldn't see where else they could go with it. And they don't really go anywhere. Granger gets arrested, his dull wife Donna Reed steps in to find evidence to rescue him.

I mean it was fine, just not up to the first half. It's in black and white which means the south of France setting really isn't exploited. Jonathan Latimer wrote the script which has some good lines and situations - it's briskly done. Just not up to the quality of the first half.

It is interesting to see Granger in a role of a man under pressure. He normally played flat out villains or heroes. Sanders is great fun as always. Reed is pretty but bland. 

The girl who plays the mistress is awful, a caricature of a sexy European dame.

Movie review - "Psychomania" (1973) ***

Quintessential batty early English horror film which throws in everything but the kitchen sink and is great fun. Nicky Henson leads a gang of bikers who wreck havoc-  they include women as well as guys. His mother is an upper class lady who knows how to revive the dead so Nicky gives it a go. Soon all these bikers are killing themselves and coming back to life. Henson's girlfriend has reservations.

Lots of fun stuff - the music score, girl bikers running people over (including if I'm not mistaken a baby), bikers riding into walls, crazy hair cuts, early 70s production design, a fantastic cast having a ball (apart from Henson there's Beryl Reid as mother and George Sanders in his last role as her assisting butler).

For a while this film was considered a joke but it has a cult that has deservedly grown.

Movie review - "In Search of the Castaways" (1962) ***

A big hit in its day but, oddly enough, it doesn't seem that well remembered as other early Hayley Mills films like Parent Trap or Written Down the Wind. It's a vehicle for Mills, clearly with Swiss Family Robinson in mind, though she shares the heroism around with Maurice Chevalier, Michael Anderson, Wilfred Hyde White and whoever plays her brother.

The script is flawed - sections of the adventure are motivated by mistakes from Maurice Chevalier and/or other characters being silly. (You could cut the whole south American sequence and it wouldn't matter, for instance. Why not use it - say have the Indian go along with them?) I forgot at times they were looking for the father. Villain George Sanders was introduced too late in the piece (he's great fun - they should have used him more - had him chasing after Mills, say).

The puppy love romance between Mills and Michael Anderson is sweet. There's a strong cast - Chevalier, Wilfred Hyde White. It could have done with a bit more character differentiation - a grown up romance (say if Chevalier had been made a female and with White or vice versa). That's what Journey to the Centre of the Earth

It'll be of interest to Aussies and Kiwis. The group visit Melbourne (though it just looks like studio set London) and "New Zealand" - there are a bunch of Maoris who are important to the plot.

There's good special effects - a tidal wave, a volcano. It looks impressive. I enjoyed the song interludes - it's like a musical they genuinely sing. The piece has charm. I just wish they'd tightened the script.

Movie review - "Endless Night" (1972) **1/2 (warning: spoilers)

Later Agatha Christie and later effort from Sidney Gilliat who maybe wasn't the right director for this. It needed more atmosphere and thrills.

Hywel Bennett and Hayley Mills (in their third film together) aren't bad in the lead - though it's a bit annoying Mills is playing an American, I just wanted an American to play it. Also she plays the role as a bright, pretty well adjusted thing - you wonder why she marries moody chauffeur Bennett. I mean, he's handsome but she's pretty - it doesn't make sense the way say mousy Joan Fontaine marries fortune hunter Cary Grant in Suspicion. Why not have her play it dowdy or in a wheelchair?

Gilliat's script is fine but his direction is not up to it. Compare the creepiness of say the Hammer psycho thrillers written by Jimmy Sangster - they used wind, shadows, sound, desolation, music, weird extras, suspense, etc. This is just stock life in the country stuff.

Britt Ekland adds a little glamour. Agatha Christie hated her nudity at the end. It is a jolt in part because there's been no nudity until then - I mean nudity would be fine (and surely Mills and Bennett would have been up for it) but at the end it is weird.

Lois Maxwell is great fun as Mills' bitchy relative - Peter Bowles is smooth too, and it's fun (it also a little melancholy) to see George Sanders being George Sanders-y just before he killed himself, but there's some random guy with grey ish hair who doesn't quite work.

They should remake this only get a director who can really handle atmosphere.