The Palm Beach Story (1942)

My new year's resolution is to post once at least once a week.  The last film I saw was The Palm Beach Story.  Which interests me because I love all things Florida.

I would say that this is one of the most funniest screwball comedies I have seen so far.  A woman, Gerry, is married to an inventor, who needs a lot of money.  After a rich old man gives her some money for no reason, she gets an idea.  She will divorce him and woo other rich men into giving her money, until she can raise what her husband needs.   Which is oddly noble.  Of course, her husband doesn't understand and tries to sabotage her at every turn.

Despite having no suitcase, clothes, or ticket,  she somehow makes it Florida on the train.  There is a lot of physical comedy even though it stars a lady, which is refreshing.  This is better than most modern romantic comedies.  She also meets a handsome rich guy who is totally not a Rockefeller.

 Her husband shows up, of course, and the rich guy's sister, a princess, falls in love with him.   Gerry and her husband turn down the chance to have tons of money for the rest of their lives and stay married to each other. The princess and her brother are disappointed, but they are told not to worry, because both of them are twins.  So, the princess and her brother marry the other couple's twins, and everyone lives happily ever after.  That was a very unexpected ending.  I will give this film an 8/10.

Roma città aperta (Rome, Open City) (1945)

Today's film is Rome, Open City.  This is an especially impressive film because it is about WWII and was filmed during WWII!  So like the danger was real for these people but they didn't care because they had a story to tell us.

There are quite a few films from this era made in Italy.  This country gets a lot of pity from me, because they were in the middle in the War.  The people were controlled by both the Nazis and the fascists, like nothing good comes out of that.  They were starving and broke, and then their controllers lost the war and they had to deal with that too!  It was a really rough time for Italy.

During this time, the Nazis had full control of Italy.  However, there are some rebels they are determined to get rid of.  Most of the film consists of these rebels and their families, and them hiding from the Nazis.  The local priest, Don Pietro does a lot to help the rebel cause.

I thought it was neat how they transferred messages with their secret code words and whatnot.  And one guy had a message inside a bullet!  Today we would just send a private text but it was so much harder back then.

In addition to the rebels, who all seem to be men, there are several female characters with their own stories.  One of them is a rebel's pregnant fiancee, who is gunned down in the street by the Nazis.  Another is a beautiful performer that gets tricked by a lesbian dominatrix Nazi into giving up vital information and then gets burned by her.

Eventually, the Nazis capture Don Pietro and two of the rebels.  The evil Nazi guy is trying to get information from the rebel, but he will not talk.  The Nazi tries to guilt trip Don Pietro into giving up information or convincing the others to talk.  But Don Pietro doesn't give up and refuses to meet any of his demands no matter how scary the Nazis are.  Don Pietro is straight up No-Flinch Kobe.  Of the two other rebels, one hangs himself and the other is beaten to death.

When the other Nazis ask what name they should use for the dead man, he gives a fake name, because he doesn't want to "create a martyr for the rebellion".  So instead, they decide the execute the priest.  So that's a better idea?!

This movie provides an interesting glimpse into the lives of people who lived under Nazi occupation.  I will give this film a 10/10.

On the Town (1949)

Today we are watching a fun movie, On the Town.  It follows three sailors making the most of their 24 hour shore leave in New York City.

They soon get burnt out from sightseeing and decide to go find some ladies.  Two of them have no problem finding lady companions, but not the last one,Gabey.  He falls in love with a "Miss Turnstiles" after seeing her picture on a poster.  So he has to have her.  Man there is like 5 million women in New York City,  you can't be that picky.  What does he even have to offer her?

One thing I really liked was the female characters, Brunhilde the cabby and Claire the scientist.  They are not shy and demure, they are just as flirtatious as the men. They provide much of the humor in the film.  Brunhilde also tries to find a match for her roommate,  who unfortunately looks like Cinderella's evil stepsister.  After an accident involving a dinosaur skeleton,  now the cops are looking for them too!  It's about to get wacky in here! 

Eventually Gabey does meet up with Miss Turnstiles, who wants nothing to do with him until they both find out they are from the same bumfuck nowhere town.  Gabey and his friends catch up to her at her dance number, which involves them wearing dance clothes too.  Men wearing women's clothes is always funny.  The cops catch up to them, and they are put back on their ship.  But we notice that it's morning again, and we see more sailors pouring out, ready to experience the city that never sleeps. And tomorrow it will begin anew again.  I thought this movie was funny.  I will give it a 7/10.

Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948)

Today's film is Letter from an Unknown Woman.  I did not find this movie romantic; I think this movie is very creepy!

This woman is a stalker! If you gender-reversed everyone in this film, there would be no doubt about it.  But people forgive her because she's a woman.  So it starts off with Stefan the musician getting ready to flee to avoid a duel.  Just then, he receives a letter and begins to read it.  So now we hear the woman's tale through flashbacks.

So the whole movie is her stalking this guy, Stefan. She becomes obsessed with him after listening to him play piano through her walls. She does encounter him in person a few times, but each time he doesn't remember her.  But this does not deter her at all.

Meanwhile, while living with her mom and stepdad, a handsome young soldier starts to date her.  However, she is just stringing him along and rejects his proposal.  She flees back to Stefan's town and gets a job there to be near him.  She does manage to get him into bed at one point.  Then, she does the unimaginable.  Their encounter does result in a baby, but she refuses to name the father.  She never tells Stefan about their son for nine full years.  Not allowing a parent to see or get to know their child is just as bad as a parent abandoning their child.  She is doing a disservice not only to Stefan, but to her son as well.  She has no right to keep her child away from his own father.  What a disgusting individual.

So, now she's a single parent with a young child, and what does she do?   That's right, she marries the handsome soldier who proposed to her years ago.  Way to be a stalker's sloppy seconds, soldier boy.

Then, through no fault of their own, the stalker and her son are exposed to the Typhus bacteria.  As they lay dying in a hospital, she pens the letter expressing her story to Stefan.  She and her son die before Stefan can see or visit either of them.  Stefan decides not to flee his duel, and it turns out his challenger is the stalker's husband.  Very interesting.

This movie disturbed me on so many different levels.  Excellent.  I will give it an 8/10.

Ivan Groznyy (Ivan the Terrible) (1944)

When I think of Russia,  I mostly think of hilarious dashcam videos.  But Russia actually has a very rich history.  So today we are going way back in time to the Elizabethan Era to watch Ivan the Terrible.

 This film reminded me a lot of old silent films.  There was use of Shadows to create dramatic effect. Also, the actors' faces and especially their eyes were exaggerated a lot the same way silent film actors do.  Especially that guy who had a crush on I van's wife.  That guy had he best eye game of all.  So we learn from this film that Russia used to be many kingdom until Prince Ivan was crowned Tsar of all Russia, uniting the kingdoms.  This made many people unhappy.

 The worst person was the mother of all prince that we will call Big Hat Lady.  She does not like Ivan and wants her son, a giant man-child, to rule.  She really hates the queen, or tsarina, Anastasia.  The Queen supports her husband, Ivan, in everything he does. 

Most of the film is various battles, where Ivan finds new friends friends and supporters, and loses old allies.  The whole film film is peppered with silent film style overacting.  Big hat lady sees bringing down the queen is the key to the throne, so she poisons her.  Having lost the person he loves the most, and the mother of the his child, Ivan becomes more ruthless.  In real life, they had six children together.  Anastasia was the only person that could hold his cruelty in check, and now there's nothing holding him back. Ivan tortured and killed tons of people, and spread out Russia's boundaries.  It is no surprise that this film was endorsed by Stalin himself. I will give this film a 7/10. I didn't like the sudden ending. It seemed too unfinished to me.

'I Know Where I'm Going!' (1945)

As the weather gets warmer, more and more tourists come and we are super busy here in Florida. I have been watching some movies though.  Today's film is 'I Know Where I'm Going!' which is a fun easy romantic film.

As with most romantic films, this one is predictable.  Our main character, Joan Webster, wishes for the finer things in life.  She is set to marry a super rich older man and travels north to reach him.  However, a windstorm prevents her from reaching the island where he is staying, and is forced to wait for him on a nearby island.  Meanwhile, she meets Macneil, whose family owns the island.

Oh, so she can't reach her fiance and there just happens to be a hot guy where she's staying?  Yeah this is easy to figure out.  There are so many romantic films that center around an already engaged person falling in love with someone else.  Maybe y'alls relationship should be stronger before you get engaged.  My friends just got married last week and they've been engaged for ten years.  That's a long time.

After a few days, Joan gets too impatient and demands someone take her to the island.  She even pays for passage to convince them to take her.  Macneil joins her because she doesn't understand the danger and that the wind will blow them straight to a giant whirlpool.  Which they get sucked into but pop out at the last second.  Then there's a castle which has no place in the movie with a really lame curse.  What does that have to do with anything.  Also the main characters both have dull personalities so I hope they are happy with each other.  I will give this film a 5/10.

The Grapes of Wrath (1940)

Today is Cesar Chavez Day!  Chavez worked hard to promote fair conditions for workers and was famous for organizing a grape strike.  So today, we're watching The Grapes of Wrath to see just how bad things were for migrant workers back then.

The film starts off with Tom Joad returning from prison to find his family home foreclosed on.  In our neighborhood the HOA is trying to foreclose on everybody so I know that it's hard.  However, I don't trust Tom because he killed a man with a shovel.  There is no way you can accidentally kill someone with a shovel.

Tom and his family, all 12 of them, pile onto an old car and head to California.  They find jobs as fruit pickers but the conditions are so horrible.  One thing I don't understand is why does Tom give his name to everyone when they sign up to work.  Tom's on probation and can't cross state lines.  So there's twelve other people who can sign the paperwork!! There's no computers, no facebook, no way for the police to track him at all, except for the paper trail that he himself is creating! He is stupid!

Yes, the cops are corrupt and the corporations are corrupt and hard working people are broke, but that is no different from today.  Yet, Tom once again kills someone with a shovel! Fool needs to be in jail!  Tom leaves his family and wanders off so they won't get in trouble for harboring him. 

This movie shows that even though things were really bad back then, we still have a long way to go. I will give this film an 8/10.

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)

Today's film is The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.  I liked it because it had a happy ending, but not like you would expect.

In 1925, two Americans, Dobbs and Curtin (who is hot), are jobless and homeless in Mexico.  They meet an old prospector, Howard and decide to go gold-hunting in the wilds of Mexico.  They work really hard and actually find some gold.

One thing I don't understand is why Dobbs was in Mexico if he can't speak Spanish.  I mean, he doesn't understand a single word they say, and they spoke slowly enough where I understood everything.  What was he doing in Mexico then?  No wonder he can't find a job.

When Curtin goes to town to pick up supplies, he is followed by a guy from Texas named Cody.  Dobbs is suspicious that he will take their gold and wants to kill him.  Just then, they are attacked by stereotypical bandidos and the only casualty is the guy they didn't want there in the first place.  From his body they find a letter from his now-widow talking about his quest for riches and their orchard at home.

Howard the doctor prospector

As time goes on, Dobbs becomes more and more paranoid about his gold.  Meanwhile, some villagers arrive and ask Howard to take care of a boy who fell down a well.  He does some sort of ancient cpr and heals him.  Was Howard a doctor before he started prospecting? How did they know to specifically ask him for help over the others?

Dobbs shoots Curtin and leaves him for dead, and takes all of the gold for himself.  Howard the doctor/prospector cleans out his wound and they chase after Dobbs.  Without anyone to protect him, the bandidos catch up to Dobbs and kill him, but are too stupid to realize the shiny sand he's carrying is gold.  They are also too stupid to realize selling branded animals is a bad idea.

Curtin and Howard get their burros back, but find out that all the gold has been carried away by the wind.  Dr. Howard laughs at their predicament.  The mountain gives and the mountain takes away.  He goes back to the village to be the town doctor and live a life of comfort.  He convinces Curtin to visit Cody's widow in time for the fruit harvest.  So, the greedy bad guy who tried to kill them dies, and the bandidos die.  Everyone else lives happily ever after even without any gold.  I will give this film an 8/10.

The Wolf Man (1941)

Today's film is The Wolf Man.  It's not the best werewolf movie ever, nor is it the first, but it is the most well known.  Also, a lot of the myths surrounding the werewolf came from this movie, not from folklore.

While watching this film, I kept wanting something more.  It wasn't what I expected.  The man who becomes the wolf man, Larry, visits his dad's house in Wales.  He hits on a local girl almost to the point of being creepy.  During this time, everyone talks about wolfs and wolfs-bane and all this, and  it seems out of place, but there's doing that as super obvious foreshadowing.

Larry and the girl, who sold him a silver tipped cane, go visit a gypsy encampment together.  The gypsy dude turns into a wolf, attacks Larry, and he beats him with his cane.  Once the wolf dies, he turns back into a man.  What's weird too is that Larry's wound heals super quick.

The old gypsy lady knows what's happening, and she gives him a protective amulet.  He gives it as a gift to the girl.  He is so stupid.  That was for him, and plus, she already told him she has a boyfriend and he still won't leave her alone.  So, he hits on her, and now is giving her gifts despite knowing she's already with someone.  He is such a creeper.

He turns into a wolf man, which somehow involves him changing clothes without actually changing clothes.  Also, wolf man is a far more appropriate term than werewolf because he's just a guy with a really hairy face.  Plus he strangles his victims.  Or, strangle/bites them.  Wolves don't strangle their prey.  Anyway, he dies so that's the end of that.  I'm gonna give this film a 5/10.

Notorious (1946)

Today's film is Notorious, a romance film disguised as a spy caper.  Ingrid Bergman stars as Alicia, whose father has been put away for being a Nazi.  Devlin, played by Cary Grant, lets her drive drunk around town for a bit before letting her know his real intentions: he is working for a government agency and they want her help spying on some Nazis.  But, they're all the way in Brazil.

Soon, Devlin and Alicia fly to Brazil, but he hasn't told her exactly what the job will entail yet.  Before you know it, Alicia has already fallen in love with Devlin, but with the amount she drinks, anyone would probably look handsome to her.  I was so annoyed with how heavy-handed she laid on the romance.  She spoke in those long, almost breathless tones, "oohhh, Delvin,  you're so hot with your butt-chin!" Makes me want to gag.

But the plot still exists.  The government agency, the OSS, a precusor to the CIA, want Alicia to flirt with a Nazi named Alexander Sebastian, and bonus points because he already had a crush on her at one time.  Alicia is mad about this, but agrees because that's what she came here for.  She does such a good job with the flirting that Sebastian asks her to marry him.  She doesn't want to, but the OSS convinces she has to as part of the mission.  So, that's what we're doing now, marrying off women for the greater good?  If I was Alicia, I'd be like "fuck this" and jetski away.

But, Alicia does marry him and throws a party.  Since she was concerned about a servant's reaction to a wine bottle in an earlier scene, she steals the key to the wine cellar and gives it to Devlin.  After breaking a wine bottle, they are shocked that it contains sand rather than wine.  Devlin scoops some up to take it back to the lab.  Meanwhile, Alicia's husband is still jealous of him and after finding his wine cellar key gone, realizes that Alicia is an American agent.  Sebastian's mother gets the great idea to poison her to make it look like she has an illness.  There's always some wrong or evil about mothers in Hitchcock films.

So, the sand turns out to be uranium ore which surprises everyone.  Brazil has the 6th largest reserve of uranium in the world so I don't find this surprising.  The OSS tells Alicia to find out where it's mined. (um, everywhere?)  She discovers that it's in the Aimores mountains in the town of San Ma (this part gets cut off so we don't hear the rest). It's at this point as well when she realizes she's being poisoned.  All that non-stop booze drinking she does and it's coffee of all things that's making her sick.  Devlin comes to rescue her and she tells him all this.  This bothers me.  San Ma?  San nothing! San is the Spanish word for saint, but we are in Brazil, so it should be São.  I may not know a whole lot, but I do know how to speak English and Portuguese.  (I read a little Spanish, but can't speak much).  If I'm going to do anything constructive today, it's to teach some Portuguese.  For example, Devlin calls someone from the phone in the hotel and asks, "Parle Anglaise?"  The only reason I knew how to spell this is because I keep the closed captioning on.  To say, "Do you speak English?" say, "Você fala inglês?"  Let's break this down:

Vo (like Vogue without the -g sound)-say  fah-lah een-glace (like glacier without the r).  There! Now say it together!  Você fala inglês?  Not hard at all!  We hear English, Spanish and French in this film, in fact the only language never spoken in the whole film is Portuguese, which is the national language!

To top it all off, the film ends abruptly.  Devlin places Alicia into the car to take her to the hospital.  What happens after this?  Do they get married?  What if Alicia is too poisoned and won't make it?  What about all that business with the uranium sand?  Did they think I was just going to forget about that?  Absolutely nothing gets resolved in this film except Devlin succeeds in getting rid of his romantic rival so he can get the girl again.  Which proves this is a romance film above anything else.  I will give this film a 6/10.

Great Expectations (1946)

This weekend I had an all night long horror movie marathon, so I will write about that soon enough.  Today's film is Great Expectations.  I remember watching portions of this in high school while we read the book.  I greatly enjoyed the book, and the film does a fine job of going along with it.  My problem is that if I hadn't read the book, I might not have been as interested in this movie.

I was relating everything I watched with everything I read.  I don't think I would have understood Miss Havisham or what she was trying to do with Estella.  It was difficult to tell that she was wearing a wedding dress.  However, since we read the book in class before, the movie was spoiled for us.  I already knew who Pip's benefactor was, so that knowledge definitely affected how I perceived the movie.

I think that even if someone had not read the book before, they would still enjoy this movie, especially if they enjoy period pieces and Charles Dickens' stories.  The costumes were very nice, the acting was great (especially the child actors) and the action was never too slow.  I will give this film a 7/10.

The Red Shoes (1948)

Hi!  We're back from our vacation.  We had a really great time.  And now we are back reviewing films.  Today's film is The Red Shoes.  I am especially looking forward to watching this because I love ballet films.

The film is inspired by the ballet of the Red Shoes, which is loosely based on the fairy tale by Hans Christian Anderson.  When I say "fairy tale", I don't mean a cute bedtime story for kids.  I mean a cautionary tale where the main character dies.  Moira Shearer plays the star ballerina, Victoria Page.  She is fantastically beautiful.  The director of the ballet troupe, Lermontov, sees great promise in her and helps her to become the very best dancer she can be.  You can tell he has feelings for her but I don't know if Victoria sees that.

The actual ballet in this film is amazing and beautiful.  The backdrops are painted and there's a combination of the stage, the fields, and the ocean that is mixed nicely.  The ballet took over 6 weeks to film.  I think that even people who are not fans of ballet will enjoy this particular scene.

Vicki falls in love with the ballet's composer, Julian Craster.  Lermontov gets jealous of him and kicks him out.  Unfortunately, Vicki goes with Julian and marries him.  I think Julian is jealous of Vicki's artistic talent.  She was a great ballerina star and he was just a composer that was known for writing her first ballet.  That's it.  Vicki goes back to Lermontov's ballet troupe and begs to dance again.  Of course he's going to let her because he still likes her.  But jealous Julian can't have that.   He refuses to let her dance in any ballet and blackmails her feelings by telling her that if she dances, she doesn't really love him and he'll leave.  What kind of asshole does that?  Vicki wants to be able to pursue her dream, because it is just as valid as Julian's dream to be a composer.  But she just cannot handle it and leaps from a balcony, wearing her red shoes.  The symbolism of the red shoes in the ballet has shown itself again in Vicki's death.  I thoroughly enjoyed this film, not just for the ballet, but for the jealousy, the drama, and the art.  I will give it an 8/10.

Xiao cheng zhi chun (Spring in a Small Town) (1948)

Today's film is Spring in a Small Town, and it was released in China one year before the Communist Revolution.   It shows the devastation after the second Sino-Japanese War and a rare glimpse of life before Communism took over.  Still, it is a universal tale of love, jealousy, and loyalty.

Yuwen lives with her husband and his 16-year-old sister, Xiu.  Her husband, Liyan, believes he is seriously ill with tuberculosis, but nobody else buys it since he has no symptoms.  (Yes, latent tb shows no symptoms, but he wouldn't act sick if this were the case.)  His sister and his wife think he's suffering from a mental problem, probably since he's depressed about the state of the house and his family.  His family's home was mostly destroyed in the war and he feels responsible for ruining the family's fortune.  He sounds depressed, which can explain why he feels tired and sick.

One day, Yuwen's childhood friend, Zhang Zhichen, comes to visit. He has come to visit her husband and has not realized that Yuwen married him.  Yuwen, being forced to live in a loveless marriage, is torn between her old feelings for Zhichen and her loyalty to her husband.  Liyan is at first oblivious to this and even asks Yuwen to talk about setting up his sister with him.  But after a party, he realizes the truth.  Much drama happens.

In 2005, the Hong Kong Film Awards Association declared this film the "greatest Chinese film ever made".  That is definitely a stretch.  If I were to name the top ten best Chinese films, I wouldn't have considered this one.  It's almost like a Lifetime movie.  There are no new ideas present, sets are minimal, acting feels stiff, and it is overall predictable.  It's an okay film, but it's not the greatest film of anything.  I will give it a 5/10.

The Lost Weekend (1945)

Today's film is The Lost Weekend.  It's about the struggles of an alcoholic.  This film is one of the first to use such a serious subject, and it issued in a new era of drama.

 

Not a bad guy

 

Don Birnam is a "writer" who cannot go ten minutes without a drink.  Supposedly he has gone without since his last binge, although I doubt it based on his numerous clever hiding places for his bottles. Don and his brother, Wick, are packing up to go to the country for the weekend. Don's ladyfriend, Helen, comes to visit, and he convinces his brother to go with her to a concert while he packs. Wick finds a hidden bottle and is about 500% done with his shit.  Eventually Wick just goes to the country trip himself and leaves Don to his own devices.  Don proceeds to steal, beg, and pawn whatever to get the alcohol he needs.  

 

Don was superbly acted by Ray Milland.  Even though he was stealing things in order to get alcohol, I was always sympathetic to him.  Like Helen said, he isn't a bad person, he's a sick person.  He has no money for drinks, so he steals out of desperation.  Mitch Hedberg once said, "Alcoholism is a disease, but it's the only disease you can get yelled at for having".

 

Don needs to find a job.

Helen asks him since he can't find work as a writer, why not get a real job? 

 Don doesn't want a real job, he wants the prestige of being a writer.  There is something lofty and romantic about being a writer that other professions don't have.  But Don hasn't written anything good since college.  And have you ever read college student-run newspapers or magazines? They suck.  I'm sure Don isn't as good of a writer as he thinks.  Still, he hasn't contributed anything since college and is living off his brother's charity.  His brother was right to cut off all expenses, because addiction takes two people, the addict and the co-dependent.  By cutting off the flow of money, Don has no choice but to get help or wind up in jail or worse.

 

Alcohol Withdrawal is serious business.

 

This part is actually true.  For someone who is dependent on alcohol, quitting cold turkey will cause withdrawal symptoms and can be dangerous.  It is best if he detoxes under medical supervision, either in outpatient care or a rehab facility.  Don does wake up in a half drunk tank/half mental hospital for alcoholics but escapes because he is freaked out by the other patient's delusions. He doesn't want to end up like them, but can't quit drinking, either.  In the end, he uses his passion for writing to help keep away from drinking.  I don't know how long that will last, though.  What happens when he gets frustrated or has writer's block?  He still has a long way to go.  I will give this film an 8/10.

Mr. Bug Goes to Town (1941)

Throughout my studies of animation history, sometimes I come across terrible animations.  Like really bad.  What I'm talking about is the feature Mr. Bug Goes to Town, also known as Bugville, or Hoppity Goes to Town.  It is so terrible that the Fleischer Brothers were fired by Paramount and Famous Studios was born.  Fleischer Studios produced many quality shorts, but they always fell flat when trying to make a feature.  Why this is historically important is, even though it's terrible, this story is the basic inspiration for A Bug's Life (1998), one of the first fully computer animated films (after Toy Story).

 

The story is a village of various insects live together in a vacant lot.  A skyscraper is going to be built on their land, which will drive them out of their homes.  Hoppity, a grasshopper with the most annoying voice ever, loves Honey Bee and wants to take her family away to safer ground.  Oh no! But evil Mr. Beetle thwarts his plan and forces Mr. Bee to give his daughter away in marriage to him.

 

 

 

Meanwhile, two humans waiting for a royalty check are afraid they are going to lose their home.  They decide to buy the penthouse in the new skyscraper instead.  Oh yeah, sure, when we were broke and lost our first home we totally had enough to buy a fucking penthouse.  The only reason they didn't get their check is because the evil Mr. Beetle hid it.  However, Hoppity finds it and gives it to the humans.  In return, all the bugs go live in the rooftop garden.  Which, they climb up the skyscraper to get to!  Yes, the tiny insects climb up a skyscraper and don't get blown off.

 

The worst part about this film is the voice acting.  It is just terrible.  I can't recommend this film to anyone.  Only if you want to see the inspiration for A Bug's Life for comparison purposes should you ever see this film.  I will give it a 2/10.

Cat People (1942)

Today's film is Cat People.  There is a legend in Serbia of the Cat People, the descendants of the evil witches.  If one of these women falls in love with a man and kisses him, she will turn into a panther and eat him!

 

Irena has lived with the fear that she is a cat person all her life.  This stems from a childhood tragedy where her father was found dead and her mother was accused of being a cat person that killed him.  If her mother is a cat person, then she must be too, she is certain of it.

 

Irena falls in love with a man, Oliver (Ollie), and marries him despite believing that she will kill him.  So every night after that, she avoids him and sleeps in her own room.  Naturally, Ollie is bothered by this, since newlyweds should never sleep in different bedrooms.  Meanwhile, Ollie's beautiful coworker tells him that she's in love with him.

 

Ollie tells Irena that she needs to go see a psychiatrist.  She does, and after some time, she is no longer afraid of being intimate with her husband.  But, it's too late!  Her husband has fallen in love with the woman from work and wants to leave Irena.

 

Ollie wins the King Douchebag of the Year Award.  I can just hear his thought process: "I'm certain my wife has a mental illness, I'm going to divorce her sorry ass and go out with the hot chick from work."

 

That's his own bride he's thinking about!  What happened to his wedding vows, that he pledged "to love and honor... in sickness and in health"?  Did he just ignore this?  Mental illness can be just as devastating as physical illness.  It's her husband who should care most about her well-being.

Now the question is: Does she really turn into a panther?  Probably, I don't know.  It never actually shows her transforming.  I actually found this movie to be more depressing than scary.  I will give it a 6/10.

Citizen Kane (1941)

Today's film is Citizen Kane.  It is widely regarded as one of the best films ever.  So I was skeptical of a film that requires such high expectations.  However, this film is indeed fantastic.

I already had the ending spoiled by Family Guy, so I decided to watch it first just to enjoy the film, and second to look for clues that would reveal the ending.

Even though the film shows Charles Kane as a great man, in reality he's a sad person.  That's why the sled is so important.  It represents his childhood being taken away from him.  He even attacks Mr. Thatcher with the sled.  His mom didn't help things either.  Look how cold she is.  It's obvious that she wanted to get rid of him at the first opportunity.  When Mr. Thatcher comes to pick him up, she tells him that she's had his things packed for a week.  His dad wants to raise him, but doesn't try very hard.

Kane doesn't want money, he wants his childhood back.  He says if he didn't have money, he could have been a great man.  He wrote that he was not interested in oil or gold mines, but that it might be fun to run a newspaper.

If he wanted his childhood back so badly, why didn't he build his home in Colorado?  He built his Xanadu palace in Florida.  That's the worst place for sledding. There's no steep hills or snow here.  He should have built his palace in Colorado, and go sledding all the time.  He had the money to do so, except he just kept buying and buying stuff he didn't need.  People gain hoarding tendencies when they are trying to fill a void.  He was taken away from his parents to be raised by a bank and later had two unfulfilling marriages.  So he filled the void in his lonely heart with lots and lots of stuff.

Everyone praised Kane for being such a great person, a business man who turned a failing newspaper into a great empire.  But, hardly anyone knew him as a person and I don't think he allowed anyone to get too close to him.  Even with his wives there was always a wall there, or he buried himself in his work.

The best part was the making of this movie.  Orson Welles co-wrote, directed and starred in this film, and it was his first major film.  And he was only 25 years old!  To show the passing of time, everyone wore makeup to look much younger in some scenes and older in others.  The old people makeup left much to be desired, but it's still good for 1941.  And the lighting is perfect.  I love how it produces all the different shades of grey and always provides much visual interest.  The story is okay, but it's the cinematography that's beautiful.  It almost seems effortless.  I will give this film a 10/10.

Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)

Today's movie is Kind Hearts and Coronets, which is a very dry, dark comedy.  It's very dry, like gin dry.  I don't think I've ever used gin to describe a movie, but this is perfect.  It's also dark because it involves the main character murdering a bunch of people, albeit in hilarious ways.

I often enjoy watching crime-related comedies, but what is so special about this one?  Overall, it's a pretty dull comedy.  The best reason to watch this is because Alec Guinness plays all eight members of the D'Ascoyne family!  He plays the banker, the parson, the duke, Lady Agatha, the admiral, and two other young members of the family.

Alec Guinness as every member of the D'Ascoyne family

The main story is about Louis, whose mother comes from a long line of dukes.  She is cruelly abandoned by her family because she chose to marry for love.  She was even denied the right to be buried near her family.  Louis swears revenge by becoming the next duke himself.  The problem is he's 8th in line so he figures that killing them all off is his best bet.

The upper class is often made fun of in this movie, while Louis' actions are never condemned.  He is blamed for the suicide of Sibella's husband, but that's only because she hid the suicide note and tried to blackmail him.  I believe she is the worst character in the movie.  She refuses to marry Louis and marries another man solely because of his wealth.  She later constantly brings her marriage problems to Louis.  Then, once he becomes a duke, she blackmails him into leaving his new fiance and marrying her.  She is everything that is wrong in their society.

Overall, the movie is not fall-out-of-your-chair funny, but it does have its moments.  It also pokes fun at upper class people in a sly way.  I will give it a 7/10.

Rebecca (1940)

Today's film is Rebecca.  It starts off very unassuming.  A young woman finds a man staring at the sea while on vacation in Monte Carlo.  They spend time together at the hotel, and a few days later he asks her to marry him and come to his estate in the country, called Manderlay.

This is all happening very fast, but I accept it because it's a romantic movie.  What's interesting is that no one ever mentions the young woman's first name.  She's only referred to as Mrs. de Winter.  Her husband is referred to as both Mr. de Winter and Maxim.  The whole estate is affected by the untimely death of Rebecca, Mr. de Winter's first wife.  She went sailing one night, something happened to the boat, and she drowned.  The body washed ashore months later and was identified by her husband.

I think the person most affected by her death was her housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers.  She lovingly keeps Rebecca's room in mint condition, exactly as it was the day she left.  I noticed that Rebecca's room was in the West Wing, and no one ever goes in there.  The new Mrs. de Winters goes upstairs and sneaks in the first chance she gets.  That's just like in Beauty and the Beast, the Beast lives in the West Wing and does not want anyone inside.  Belle sneaks in the West Wing the first chance she gets.

Mrs. Danvers is cruel to the new wife and tricks her into dressing into something Rebecca wore for her costume ball.  Maxim is very upset when he sees his wife wearing one of Rebecca's outfits.  The whole party is interrupted when a boat crashes near them.  Everyone rushes out to help, fully costumed, which I thought was funny.  Later, a diver reveals that he found the sailboat Rebecca died on at the bottom of the sea.  When they bring it up, they discover Rebecca's body inside!  Mrs. de Winters feels sorry for her husband, but he is compelled to tell her the truth.  He put Rebecca's body inside the boat and set it out to sea, because he hates her!  What!  I was not prepared for that.

He reveals that Rebecca was a manipulative bitch that slept around.  He didn't divorce her because he couldn't handle the scandal.  So, when he met Rebecca at her cottage by the sea, she told him she was pregnant with her lover's baby.  He would be forced to raise the baby, who would eventually become heir to his estate.  He got so mad he pushed her, and she smacked her head and died.  It was an accident.  So, Maxim put her on her boat and set it off, hoping to never see her again.  Well that failed.

The policeman are very kind to Maxim, but their duty is to investigate this death.  The general consensus is suicide.  Rebecca's lover, Jack, doesn't believe this and tries to blackmail Maxim.  Maxim is way cleverer than him though.  Jack is a used car salesman and is totally smarmy the whole time.  He takes Maxim and the police to Rebecca's private physican.  But what is revealed shocks everyone.  Rebecca was ill not because of pregnancy, but because she had cancer.  The doctor tells everyone of her reaction, and it is true that she did intend to kill herself.  Maybe lying to Maxim about the baby and starting the fight was her way of ending it.

Soon, everyone finds out the truth, that Rebecca had cancer.  Mrs. Danvers is affected most by it.  She hates Maxim, and really hates his wife for daring to replace Rebecca.  So, she calmly walks carrying a single candle, which she uses to set the entire house on fire!  Ahh!  Just like crazy lady from Jane Eyre! 

My, this movie was exciting.  There were so many twists I didn't know what was coming next.  I will give this film a 9/10.

Ladri di biciclette (The Bicycle Thief) (1948)

Lately I've been watching a lot of films from the 1940's and this one really struck me.  Not only because of its stark realism, but that it could have been made today and have been no different.  Everyone was struggling there back then.  It was almost impossible to find a job, and people took whatever they can get.  Same way we have recent college graduates working at Burger King and will wait years before anything is available in their field.

Antonio Ricci is someone who needs a job for his family, and actually gets one!  It requires a bicycle to go around town one.  Unfortunately, someone nicks it while he's on the job.  If he doesn't get this bike back, he'll lose his means of supporting his family.

Ricci, his friends, and his son Bruno, scour the city looking for the bike.  They also go to the market to look for bike parts, because it could have been stripped for its parts and sold bit by bit.  I had no idea Italians were so serious about their bikes!  The bike market was impressive.  It becomes apparent that the bike isn't just for his job, but for living a normal life as well.  Also, Ricci takes his son out to eat even though he's broke because he wants to show that he can take care of him and not to worry.  It's not his son's responsibility to worry, it's his own job.

Does Ricci get his bike back?  No, but life isn't always about happiness.  This movie left me feeling empty and hopeless about the future.  Even now, there are no jobs here.  At all.  I'm giving this film a 7/10.