In this film, David Wark Griffith tells four stories in parallel, three from history, and one fictional modern one. The historical episodes are the fall of ancient Babylon, the crucifixion of Christ, and the St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre of the Huguenots. The modern story tracks a young woman and man that find each other but seem to be fated to lose (more…)
Though done in 1936, almost a decade after talkies had come into their own, this is essentially done as a silent, thus falsifying my claim (more…)
The setting is a dark but beautiful village in the Tirolian Alps, full of sad people. They are both drawn (more…)
The story takes place in the transition from silent movies to talkies. The prima donna has made her mark only because (more…)
Another Preston Sturges rollicking surprise-twist comedy.
What would you do if you won the big prize and got the check, but it was (more…)
This is Oliver Stone’s spin on Nixon.
The movie does to Nixon what Amadeus did to (more…)
The plot centers on a ring of foreign saboteurs operating in London. Their last attack, causing a (more…)
German silent of the expressionism period, directed by Murnau. An adaption of Dracula.
Dracula or “Count Orlok” is played with stunning presence (more…)
Original German: Der Tunnel
(Rats. I tried to post this yesterday but the terminal timed out. Then, it would have been posted from Berlin: very apropos! Instead, you get it from Leipzig.)
This is the true story of some guys that make an elaborate attempt to help loved ones to escape from East (more…)
In German, with subtitles.
There are two levels at which this movie can be enjoyed. The first is a crime story structured a bit like (more…)
Based on the story of a minor yet successful turn-of-the-century D’Alembert opera, the basic threesome is the traveling dancer (more…)
A Preston Sturges comedy. It opens with a dark scene of two men fighting to the death on a roaring (more…)
At the beginning, Peachy (Michael Caine) appears in the newspaper office of “Kipling” (erstwhile Capt. von Trapp Christopher Plummer), and from his seriously degraded condition (more…)
This early silent movie is about a mutiny during czarist time on the battleship Potemkin. Director Eisenstein takes the mutiny (more…)
This is a comedy starring John Candy. It begins quite funny, with every cliché of slapstick (more…)
A Marmoulian film, with magnificent visuals and effects.
In this movie Jekyll is pronounced with long e: Jeek’l. Supposedly this is the authentic way.
Differences from the Stevenson story may (more…)
This is the American Iliad: fascinating story, timeless characters, myth. Again and again, we find it applies to daily life.
It is a fictional story about Sicilian immigrants that form a “family.” A family in this sense begins with the literal nuclear family, moves out to the extended family, then reaches out to incorporate (more…)
In an interesting article about three 20th century Montgomery, Alabama women (Sara Mencken, Zelda Fitzgerald, and Tallulah Bankhead), Gail Jarvis explains one attribute of the Southern Belle: (more…)
Buster Keaton is a Confederate who tries to take back a train that has been stolen by the Yankees. This leads to all (more…)
Early silent. Typical of the “German Expressionism” and you soon see why: almost every set looks like (more…)
Annoying at first because of Rex Harrison’s continual irritability, this movie becomes (more…)
A mysterious gunman (Clint Eastwood) arrives in the desert village of Lago. Truculent and peevish, the townsfolk nonetheless gravitate toward him, thinking a guy like him can rescue them from a trio of violent men that are going to be released that very day (more…)
A mob of horsemen destroys a mining camp, but doesn’t kill anyone. Turns out to be the LaHood gang, trying to make the miners “leave voluntarily.” In addition to the raids, when miners come into town, they get beaten up. But the LaHoods refrain from (more…)
Two aging brother-tycoons have opposite views on the nature/nurture debate. Randolph (Ralph Bellamy), the advocate of nurture, challenges Mortimer (Don Ameche) to a bet to prove his view. They will bring it about that their protégé Louis Winthorpe III (Dan Aykroyd) will be falsely accused of crimes and lose everything, to see if he doesn’t become a criminal; conversely, they will take jive-ass (more…)
A remake of Philadelphia Story; so I won’t repeat the synopsis. The differences:
1. It is done as a musical. They even drag Louis Armstrong in (more…)
Filmed for 3-D glasses, as one can easily observe; however, the technique had just gone out of fashion when the movie hit the theatres.
Divorced Howard Keel and Kathryn Grayson have a Taming of the Shrew like interaction. The story, a play-within-a-play, is actually based on (more…)
Booze, broads, and brawling, that’s life! could be the subtitle.
Two brothers, one bound by duty and honor, the other sensuous and libertine, (more…)
Just to show how quickly things changed, in this movie Humphrey Bogart got fifth billing, being edged down the list not just by Leslie Howard and Bette Davis, but two others! (more…)
This, the greatest of our Hollywood musicals, needs no commendation. Most have seen it several times and are familiar with the story. For the few that have not, you have something to look forward to.
Reviews of “The Sound of Music” are legion so I will not bother with another. A few words about the music, though, may be helpful in appreciating the movie. For, as the title suggests, it is the music that is the soul of the film. (more…)
The modern high-rise, impersonal megapolis has been created by dominant capitalist Fredersen (Alfred Abel) along with his evil inventor Rotwang (Klein-Rogge). The capitalist and his “court” live up high, in a place of godlike, Olympian imagery. (more…)