Some of the best humor of the 30′s.  The comedy is neither self-depricating nor insidious.  It comes in all forms, from exhibitions of foolish behavior to putting people in their place (egos).  In the thirties, bad guys were more obvious, simpler, with solutions to match.  Integrity, humility, responsibility, acceptance of others.  From My Man Godfrey, a sermon without pain.

Opening scene:  New York City Dump 32, East River, Sutton Place.  Tin cans, shanties, garbage trucks, that special aroma, even camp fires.  Two cars arrive, each with a sister, one is Cornelia and the other Irene.  They are on a scavenger hunt, searching for a forgotten man.  Someone from the streets or a garbage dump, a homeless person.

The “Duke” Godfrey Park is played by William Powell.  Cornelia, the older sister, is the first to find Godfrey.  She offers him five dollars to parade in front of the socialites of 5th Avenue.  Godfrey is insulted, shoves Cornelia into an ash pile.  Irene, the younger sister (Carole Lombard), watches from a distance.  She apologizes for their scavenger behavior, but she still wants to best her sister.  Godfrey and Irene join forces.  Together they go to the scavenger ball where Irene displays Godfrey as the forgotten man, aroma and all.  She wins the contest, but at the cost of her self-respect.  Irene to Godfrey, “Do you buttle?”  She offers him the position of butler at the Bullock household.  By any standards, an automatic conflict with sister number one, who was after all shoved into an ashe pile.  Godfrey becomes Irene’s protogé at 1011 Fifth Avenue.  “Is the family that exacting?  No, they’re that nutty.”

My Man Godfrey trailer

Five Stars!  From the beginning, we are well aware there is something special about Godfrey.  He is articulate, cares about his fellow human beings . . . . highbrow and lowbrow.  The movie itself is a discovery of Godfrey, both for viewers and the socialite fascinated by him.  We learn about Godfrey along with Irene.  Irene is the whimsical blonde who sees something special in Godfrey.  We understand this, but it still takes the full movie to discover the depth of his character and his impact on others.

Choose the color version.  I suspect too much to hope for a blu-ray.  No wide screen option available.

Carole Lombard was the forerunner of our independent femme fatales of today.  She commanded her own salary, chose her own films including her last film, To Be or Not to Be.  She chose her own lovers, and chose to wed Clark Gable.  She supported the war effort and the federal income tax.  But Carole Lombard did not choose to die on the side of a mountain that night.

Carole Lombard:  Lovable Madcap

]]> http://impoverishedcritic.wordpress.com/2011/12/27/my-man-godfrey/feed/ 0 luckcr mmg http://impoverishedcritic.wordpress.com/2011/07/16/foreign-correspondent/ http://impoverishedcritic.wordpress.com/2011/07/16/foreign-correspondent/#comments Sat, 16 Jul 2011 22:50:29 +0000 luckcr http://impoverishedcritic.wordpress.com/?p=1248 ]]> Thriller.  Walter Wanger Productions, 1940.  John McCrea, Laraine Day, Herbert Marshal, George Sanders, Albert Bassermann.  Alfred Hitchcock director.  Made in Hollywood with sets for European locations London and Amsterdam.

Opening scene, the New York Globe.  Editor needs someone in Europe to investigate and find real news, war is coming.  He opts for crime reporter Johnny Jones (John McCrea).  Jones has chased down a payroll robber, and was charged with “beating up a policeman” in the process.  Instead of firing Johnny, editor promotes him, changes his name to Huntley Haverstock and makes him a foreign correspondent.  Expense account and Johnny (or Huntley) take to England on the Queen Mary.

Pre-war 1939 Europe.  Germany has not yet invaded Belgium and Holland.  The 1st assignment for our naive reporter – go to a meeting sponsored by the Universal Peace Party and interview Mr Van Meer, a leading peace diplomat from Holland.  Stephen Fischer (Herbert Marshal) is the chairman of the Peace Party honoring Van Meer.  Huntley Haverstock alias Johnny Jones joins Mr Van Meer in a taxi-ride to the meeting.  The two enter the building together.  Van Meer disappears in the crowd.  He is a no-show for the meeting.

Johnny meets Carol Fischer (Laraine Day) and pours his heart out to her only to find she is to speak in place of the absent Van Meer.  Fast forward across the English channel to Amsterdam.  Up close, Johnny watches as Van Meer takes a shot to the face.  He chases the killer, carjacking car, driver and passenger in the process.  The passenger is the same Carol Fischer from the Peace Party meeting in London.  The chase begins.

Foreign Correspondent trailer

Five Stars!  From the beginning, a twist at every turn.  Foreign intrigue, secret agents, deaths, kidnapping, chase scenes. . . plus the windmills of Holland.  There is a channel crossing, Johnny and Carol huddled together on the windswept deck of the ferry.  The look of death, the intent in the old man’s face as he lunged forward to push Johnny from the church tower.  A film with an outstanding cast, nominated for multiple awards, losing on all counts to Rebecca, that other Alfred Hitchcock film in theatres the same year, 1940.

I first saw this film as a child during the late hours of night, back when television was filling programming with old black and white movies from Hollywood.  I remembered the scene of Van Meer (Albert Bassermann) as he realized there would be no help.  I remembered the scene of two lovers on the deck of a boat, all bundled in heavy blankets as wind and water swept over the deck.

I had not realized those scenes came from this movie.   Seen again, Foreign Correspondent, June 2011.

Essentials:  “There are many universes and many earths parallel to each other.  Worlds like yours where people’s souls live inside their bodies, and worlds like mine, where they walk beside us, as animal spirits we call daemons.  So many worlds, and connecting them all is dust.  Dust was here before the witches of the air, the Gypsuns of the water, and the bears of the ice.  In my world, scholars invented an elithiometer, a golden compass, and it showed them all that was hidden.  But the ruling power, fearing any truth but their own, destroyed these devices, and forbade the very mention of dust.  One compass remains however, and only one who can read it.”

From the beginning we are made aware that our hero is Lyra Belacqua (Dakota Richards).   She lives at Jordan College, raised by caretakers.  A young girl, independent, mischievous, resourceful, and curious to a fault.  She roams the school by her free will, not necessarily by permission.  Her curiosity takes her to the board room.  Lyra and her daemon Pan hide quickly when they hear others coming down the hall.  From the closet they see a man from the Magisterium place poison in a decanter of wine reserved for Lord Asriel, Lyra’s uncle.  She smashes the glass and saves his life, but stays hidden as Lord Asriel makes his presentation to the council.  Here she learns of dust and other worlds.  Lord Asriel (Daniel Craig) is seeking funding to study this phenomenon.

Later that evening Lyra meets Mrs. Coulter (Nicole Kidman), a friend of the college.  They like each other.  Lyra will travel north and be her assistant.  Later in the solitude of night, the headmaster brings the elithiometer to Lyra.  It is the only one in existence, the golden compass, a truth measure.  It enables you to see what others wish to hide.  The headmaster tells Lyra to be discrete and not let anyone, especially Mrs. Coulter, know she has it.   The problem.  Mrs. Coulter is a bad guy.  Her daemon is a bad guy.

The Golden Compass trailer

Five Stars plus !  A fantasy adventure for all, covering everything from love and responsibility to science and religion.  It is the story of a girl and the consequences of curiosity.  The Golden Compass requires attention to every word, lest you miss a clue for what is to come or what must be understood.  It is an adventure with a new twist around every corner.  Then there is the Magisterium, an organization that controls the minds of the populace, while yearning to control their souls.  They are the purveyor of dark times.  Shades of Mengele and the Gestapo.  Nicole Kidman is an instrument of the Magisterium.  She destroys people, good people, children.

There are intense, magnificent battle scenes where daemons disappear in a flash of bright golden dust.  There are flying witches of the north with their bows and arrows, armoured bears where armour serves as their soul, Gypsuns of the water, even a flying aeronaut.  And everyone has a daemon.  Special effects dazzle your mind.  Ships with sails and side paddle wheels, ferries of the sky, the colors of the north, dust that flows through daemons. 

Our film moves quickly, building an understanding of what is to come.  No flat spots period!  No other film incorporates humans and animals with such clarity of purpose.  Rated PG-13 for violence.  Fantasy violence, but very real.

Atonement:  I have not yet read the trilogy, but will do so.  The film stands on its own, and I suspect the novels will do the same.  See this on Blu-ray.  It has an outstanding special features set.

zimbio.com – Lyra Balacqua desktop + photo gallery

New York City, 2022.  The dark ages.  40 million people.  Smog, low visibility, oppressive heat, 90 degrees at night, no air conditioning, machines in disrepair.  Cars no longer function, they serve as hostels or locations for illicit and unsavory transactions.  People sleep in hallways and stairwells.  20 million are unemployed.  Curfew is mandated, 6:00 pm every day.  In a world of scarce resources, soylent green is the one staple and nutritional food source for the nation.  Tuesday is soylent green day.

Charlton Heston plays Detective Thorn.  Edward G Robinson is Sol Roth, his live-in librarian.  Sol is a former professor reduced to foraging for food, standing in long lines.  He researches criminal history to help Thorn solve cases.  They share a small apartment where they pedal a bicycle to charge batteries and generate their own electricity.  They are very close.

The beginning.  Det Thorn is called out on a new case.  A murder of the elite, a man who lives in luxury in a land of depravity.  The victim’s furniture includes a live-in companion, Sheril (Leigh Taylor-Young).  Sheril is a woman of stature and class.  She provides companionship and critical support for Det Thorn.  The murder turns out to be an assassination.  Sol discovers that the victim, William R Simonson was a member of the board of Soylent, the corporation that controls the food supply for over half the world.  Thorn is told to close the case, to call it a break-in murder.  He refuses to sign off.  The hunter becomes the hunted.

Soylent Green trailer

5 Stars !  Kudos for casting.  Memorable performances from Heston and Robinson in the twilight of their careers.  Leigh Taylor-Young is the aging but still beautiful furniture.  In the world of 2022 few people are honest, even fewer care.  Our protagonists fight for survival every day.  They struggle for control in their lives.  Scenes are remembered by their effect.  Scoops dumping humans in the back of garbage trucks, the stepping over people required to walk around town, the pleasure of an old man and his protégé feasting on beef stew.

The movie depicts the green house effect in full force.  Science fiction writers from the late 60’s projecting ahead to 2022 where corporations control the world.  More to the point, corporations control governments.

It has been decades since I saw this movie.  I always remembered Edward G Robinson as he lay dying in the mausoleum.  The scenery was beautiful, but behind the scenery was something horrible.  Sol had just discovered that horror.  He had chosen to die, to “go home.”

Soylent Green is a film of words.  The words are honest, caring, and given in earnest by great actors.  You remember the characters.  Even the bad guys.

Rated PG.  See this on blu-ray.

Edward G Robinson – Biographical Note NNDB

Our screenplay opens with Lucy Kelson (Sandra Bullock) hanging from a wrecking ball protesting yet another demolition.  She is an activist, an attorney with a degree from Harvard who fights for the oppressed.  She lays down on the street.  She goes to jail.  Now comes a new problem, big time.  Ms. Kelson learns that her Coney Island community center is scheduled for removal with the next building expansion.

Desperate, Lucy turns to George Wade (Hugh Grant), accosting him on the plaza in front of his posh office building.  George is the flamboyant millionaire.  He also has 24 hrs to replace his inept, but attractive chief counsel.  He mistakes Lucy for a candidate.   Impressed with her demeanor, knowledge and skillset, including the fact that she is an attractive female, he offers her the job.  An untenable position for Lucy Kelson, to work for the enemy.  “If you take the job, I promise to save your community center.”  Lucy relents.  She capitulates.

George Wade is the playboy who owns and lives in his own plush hotel.  Lucy Kelson is the dedicated activitist who focuses on every detail of her new job.  She supports her boss.  She pays heed politely to his impish needs.  To a point.  Enter the “two week notice,”  authority Sandra Bullock.

Two Weeks Notice trailer

5 stars !!  Sandra Bullock and Hugh Grant.  Both actors are well known from their multiple roles in the past.  Their styles mesh. Chemistry is automatic.  They can both respect and loathe each other.  They are the comedic duo, the reason for the film.  Kudos for casting of support roles, including Robert Klein as the father.  Scenics and locations match our expectations for expensive office buildings.  We know we are in New York.

Music and song set the tone for our expectations.  Songs are drawn from the ages, from the 30’s to the 70’s, from Canada to Cuba.  A North American event.  Music enhances our pleasure, provides a segue between scenes, and carries us from location to location.  21 selections are listed in the credits.

Sandra Bullock and Hugh Grant are actors, both by looks and talent.  They create memorable scenes, from the comedy of the Winnebago bathroom visit to the agony of lost faith at the charity ball.  I still maintain that Two Weeks Notice is the best of Sandra Bullock’s romantic comedies.  The Proposal, a 2009 romantic comedy, was also an excellent film, but the groom suffered from an overbearing father. 

Two Weeks Notice is not quite as down to earth.  The relationship stays with you longer.   Rated PG-13, but I think a PG.

Johnny Depp is Frank Tupelo, a tourist and math teacher from Wisconsin, on vacation in Europe.  He takes a train from Paris to Venice.  Enter Elise (Angelina Jolie). She chooses Frank to invite to dinner.  Elise needs someone to decoy for her absent lover, Alexander Pierce.  She is being shadowed by The Financial Crimes Division of London.  They hope she will lead them to Pierce.  He possesses 744 million pounds of illegal British assets.  Enter player number two, crime syndicate gangster Reginald Shaw.  He also searches for Pierce, seeking to recover 2.8 billion stolen from him.

5 Stars.  Kudos for casting, story, scenics and directing.  Elise is the woman of style and class.  She is confident, stands tall and moves with purpose, but she is not Laura Croft.  However the bad guys are still bad, viscious, cruel.  They hunt Alexander Pierce with no regard to human cost.  Neither inspector Acheson (Paul Bettany) nor Reginald Shaw (Steven Berkoff), the g-man and the gangster, take prisoners.  For big time egos, failure is not an option.

The Tourist trailer

The Tourist represents a departure for Jolie.  Here she is a goddess by style, body language, and acting.  She is glamorous.  Closeups reveal her emotions and cares.  You focus on every word, searching for clues of what will happen next.  Subtleties become important.  Johnny Depp is always in character, playing his role of the tourist as he learns about another world.  He too comes from a  more intense acting background, including such films as From Hell  and The Nineth Gate.

I recall another spy thriller,  3 Days of the Condor, where Faye Dunaway was the lead.  That 1975 spy thriller dealt more with world issues.  The Tourist as a spy thriller is more down to earth.  Love is involved, but not the world’s survival.  Money is the issue today.  Both Faye Dunaway and Angelina Jolie are known for multiple roles involving action and danger, and both actresses are created for closeups.  Looks for sure, plus talent and skill.

The Tourist has several plot twists, including those reserved for the very end.  If you have not seen this movie, you should discover them for yourself.  If you have seen this film, see it again on Blu-ray.  Widescreen vistas, clean colors, indoor and outdoor scenics, plus the city and canals of Venice.  Not to mention Angelina Jolie.  Rated PG-13 for violence.

Opening credits set the tone.  Our film begins with a voyage of the Q E II, accompanied by the lyrics of “L-O-V-E” sung by Nat King Cole.  Visuals take us through the romance and marriage at sea of Elizabeth James and Nick Parker (Natasha Richardson and Dennis Quaid).  A luxurious cruise with all the extras.

In the beginning:  Moose Lake, Maine, Camp Walden for girls.  Arrving on site for an 8 week tour are two single parent youngsters, Hallie Parker of Napa Valley and Annie James from London (Lindsay Lohan times two).  Both are good at cards, fencing, and war.  Soon Annie and Hallie’s antics earn their mutual expulsion to the isolation cabin.  There they discover their uniqueness.  They are twins.  They want to be together, they want their parents to be together.  A plan is hatched.  They will switch identities in order to meet their other parent.  Hallie goes to London and the mother she has never seen, Annie travels to Napa Valley and the father she has never met.  They are very thorough.  They train well for their effort to deceive.

Problem:  During the summer, father Nick has developed a relationship with his new publicist, Meredith (Elaine Hendrix).  She was hired to boost the vinyard’s image, but boosted her own image instead.  Now Nick and Meredith are scheduled to be married. . . . in two weeks. 

The Parent Trap trailer

Five Stars Plus !!  Kudos for casting, the most obvious being Lindsay Lohan.  No where in the film are we even remotely aware that the same person is playing two roles.  Special effects and directing add a big time boost to the illusion as well.  The two butlers, Chessy and Martin (Lisa Ann Walters and Simon Kenz)  further enhance the plot providing addn’l comedic support.  And there is the score.   17 songs are listed in the credits.  Every song sets or enhances the tone, carrying us through plots or prepping us for what is to come. 

This is a feel good movie.  The conflicts and struggles are there for our pleasure.  They will be resolved.  There are no flat spots.  Action moves continuously from one scene to another, from one stage to another.  The Parent Trap moves flawlessly through its stages:

And there is only a slight let down at the end.  We had such a good time, we wanted to stay longer.  A film with a touch of class.  Please, a Blu-ray.

You’ve Got Your Hands Full    “Sending love and prayers to Natasha Richardson’s family.”

The Parent Trap trailer – High definition, requires high speed internet.

In the beginning there was a song “White Christmas.”  It was written by Irving Berlin and sung by Bing Crosby in the 1942 film Holiday Inn.  His recording sold over 100 million copies by 1954.  Other versions by other singers pushed the number to over 400 million.

White Christmas  the movie:  Opening scenes are from World War II theatre in Europe.  Bob Wallace (Bing Crosby) sings “White Christmas” to troops on the front line.  It is Christmas Eve, 1944.  Private Phil Davis (Danny Kaye) saves Lt Wallace’s life.  Lieutenant is now beholden to private.

Fast forward.  War has ended.  Wallace and Davis, now a song and dance team, help the Haynes sisters escape to Vermont.  Problem.  Bob Wallace and Betty Haynes (Rosemary Clooney) prefer their singles lifestyles.  Phil and Judy (Vera-Ellen) attempt to rectify this situation.  Add one more variable, former Major General Thomas Waverly from WWII (Dean Jagger).  He needs help.  His resort inn, also located in Vermont, is about to go under.  And Christmas is just around the corner.

5 stars.  Christmas for the ages.  Oscar goes to Irving Berlin for “Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep.”  Big time kudos for scenics, costumes, color, casting.  Bob Wallace is the staunch business man, the producer.  Phil Davis is the lively force teaching him to relax.  For the Haynes sisters, Betty is the mother hen taking care of her younger charge.

Multiple Subplots:

1. Phil and Judy work to bring Bob and Betty together
2. All four work to help General Waverly save his inn.
3. Music, song and dance for the holidays.

White Christmas trailer

White Christmas nurtures our souls.  It draws on memories of the past, including our hopes and dreams.  It is Christmas, when we care for ourselves and others, and White Christmas is the number one Christmas celebration on film.

Movie released on Blu-ray November this year.  Colors are rich, picture clarity and sound outstanding.  Today we can see this first Vista Vision film with more clarity and sparkle than our forefathers could ever have imagined.  Picture quality and sound tell us this film was made only yesterday.  Performances, song and dance, tell us this film was made from memories.

Opening scenes:  Berlin, 1945.  Three generals stand together in a bunker as chaos reins in the streets above.  Together they sign a covenant, seal the envelope and send it by courier to Geneva.  They drink a toast to the covenant and to their children, then shoot themselves.

Fast forward 40 years.  An architect, Noel Holcroft (Michael Caine) receives an urgent call from Geneva as he stands on the top floor of a construction site in New York City.  The call is from a Swiss bank president, asking Mr. Holcroft to fly immediately to Europe.  The banker has information “so important that it will change the course of his life.” 

Europe.  From the clandestine setting of a ferryboat, Noel Holcroft learns of the covenant, 4½ billion dollars, his opportunity and responsibility.  He is to use the money to provide reparations for horrors visited upon the world by the Third Reich.  He needs two others to co-sign with him, Johann Tennyson and Jurgen Mass.  All are sons of the triumvirate, the three Nazi generals who signed the covenant in 1945.  Problem:   Many already know of this money and have been waiting for the opportunity to intercede. 

The Holcroft Covenant trailer

5 Stars.  Totally engaging spy thriller, full of mystery, action and intrigue.  Multiple subplots, all aimed at gaining control of 4½ billion dollars.  In addition to the money, there is an unknown list of people, “a list of 1000 names that will change the world.”  Holcroft works closely with Helden (Victoria Tennant), Johann’s sister, as they roam the streets of London and Berlin in search of answers.  No one can be trusted.  People kill without remorse, and sometimes with pleasure.  Revelations are always startling, unnerving, unanticipated.

The Holcroft Covenant is sorcerous.  We are captivated by intrigue, by revelations that enlighten and reinforce our need to know more.  There are no flat spots.  Kudos to Michael Caine, Victoria Tennant, and a full supporting cast.  They make us believe.  Remember this movie for its intense emotion and display of human savagery.  Rated “R.”

Opening scene.  Two weary and hungry hunters are lost in the forest highlands of Scotland.  They have traveled from New York by plane in order to hunt grouse.  (Trans Atlantic travel took much longer in 1954.)  The mist is thick, but slowly clears to reveal a beautiful, picturesque village in the distance.  The village is not on the map.  The two strangers, Tommy Albright and Jeff Douglas, a la Gene Kelly and Van Johnson, cross the bridge in search of food.  Problem:  Fiona Campbell (Cyd Charisse) is the one that stops to help them.  Tommy Albright is star struck.

Five Stars!  Cyd Charisse and Gene Kelly together.  Painted scenic backdrops rival any digital imaging available today, both in color and detail.  From the beginning, music and song set the tone for what is to come.  First scene from the village . . . dancing and singing in the market square.  The village is Brigadoon.

Brigadoon 1954 Trailer

The pleasure in this film comes from its storyline, dancing, colorful scenics, costumes, music and song.  Songs for the heart, “Go Home with Bonnie Jean,” “Waiting for my Dearie,” and “It’s Almost like Being in Love.”  We remember dancing on hillsides, squeaky rocking chairs, and mugs of ale.  We remember Tommy Albright and share his eagerness to find the truth of Brigadoon.

The main site location is the market square, MacConnachy Square.  It has more color, more pagentry, and more people.  It is the location of the wedding and the gathering of the clans.  Brigadoon a love story, but it is also about a miracle.  From Mr Lundie, local schoolmaster, “Most folks don’t believe in miracles.  Miracles require faith.”  Faith and miracle are found in this movie.

Brigadoon comes from a time when musicals were a life source to theatres.  Musicals highlighted the best of human nature.  Their songs took on an aura of their own, remaining in hearts and souls for decades.  Even today.  Make this Blu-ray.