sjmckenna-27831 Reviews

The Quiet Man (1952)

Such a great film

[10/10 · 13 May 2024]

So many people commenting about The Quiet Man seem not to have watched it or perhaps approached the film with their imaginations switched off. Apparently it is unrealistic in its depiction of Ireland, its people and culture. Well of course it is unrealistic, it is allegorical and uses various tropes to highlight a serious message. For example, when Thornton paints his cottage door green Mrs Playfair remarks only an American would think of that. The fight at the end of the film is acted in a way that makes you laugh. No-one is supposed to get hurt. The film espouses violence towards women. How so? Thornton is given a stick to beat the lovely lady but he throws it away. Maureen O'Hara throws a punch at John Wayne who ducks and kicks her backside but it is more playful than aggressive. The dowry plays a significant part in the story and when Maureen O'Hara finally gets the money it is she who opens the firebox door so the notes can be burned. I will leave you to work out what that means. Maybe the film is just to nuanced for modern audiences.

The Gentle Sex (1943)

A film to watch again and again

[10/10 · 25 February 2024]

This film is so far ahead of anything made in America. It has no cloying sentimentality just seven women getting on with their training and work. Leslie Howard's gentle humour might be a little too subtle for audiences across the pond and the laconic way the Commandos behave in the train show the British attitude to the hostilities of World War Two. We should remember that 65,000 civilians were killed in the UK by bombs and later missiles. A situation not experienced by our allies. These characters and their experiences would be readily understood by contemporary audiences who would also have known the song Don't Dilly Dally and understood the references in it very well. All in all a film that should not be missed.

Green for Danger (1946)

Not a film for the unimaginative

[10/10 · 19 November 2023]

The action takes place somewhere in England, probably in the South of the country. The hospital has many features of those hospital built quickly during the war. It reminded me of the old parts of the Churchill Hospital in Oxford - not very rural. The cast are quite superb including Alastair Sim who plays his role quite deftly slowly winding up the other characters. Leo Glenn is once again quite brilliant and his recital of a few lines of Shakespeare demonstrates the Bard's brilliance and Glenn's superb intonation which captures the meaning in the lines so well. It is probably not the sort of film that would appeal to an American audience. It has little action and people talk a lot slowly, revealing the plot in a very subtle way.

Forever and a Day (1943)

How could a film as bad as this have been made?

[1/10 · 9 October 2023]

Some people reviewing this film gave it a score of 10 which I find unbelievable. It is notable that Yanks seem to have enjoyed the film far more than British viewers. The script was paper thin but managed to be anachronistic and patronising without having anything of value to say. I am an older person and although I have no memory of the Blitz, I wasn't born, but I have strong memories of playing on bomb sites after the war and collecting shrapnel. I know what my mother and her sisters thought about this kind of offering from the USA and the nicest thing I can say is you can take it back and burn it. British actors who stayed in Hollywood were seen as cowards.

Tonight's the Night (1954)

One for the Plastics

[1/10 · 19 September 2023]

Another dreadful film lampooning Ireland, its culture and its people. There is nothing of value in it and the film should be consigned to the dustbin and never shown again. Perhaps it gained some traction across the Atlantic Ocean where the caricatures of Ireland plus the presence of Niven and Yvonne de Carlo might have had box office appeal. This film is part of the genre of treating Ireland as a quaint place full of not very bright people who can't even place a bomb correctly. Its premise seems to be that the Irish are an idle bunch unable to obey the laws of the land nor any simple morality. A film to avoid.

This Above All (1942)

Why do Americans get the UK so wrong?

[1/10 · 16 April 2023]

Where do you start to describe this travesty of a film? The lighting is so dark you can't see what is happening a lot of the time. Atmospheric it is not. The accents are atrocious even from the actors born in the UK. The tea room scene is dreadful. It purports to be in England yet it has the look and feel of the USA. Did the producers and directors not know about rationing? There seems to be an abundance of food and drink for everyone and not a ration book in sight. Why would an unmarried man and in wartime Britain, or at any time, go into a hotel and expect to get a room? The behaviour of the women soldiers and officers is completely wrong - no discipline. Avoid this film. By the way Joan Fontaine stinks.

Chase a Crooked Shadow (1958)

Why did they choose Anne Baxter?

[8/10 · 9 March 2023]

A good film to watch on a lazy Sunday or if it is raining. The cast are excellent apart from Anne Baxter who is the least convincing of all. Richard Todd is all smoothness and calm. What would you expect from a soldier who helped take Pegasus Bridge. Faith Brook is cool and understated with a hard edge just like a prison warden might be. Where it falls down is the acting of Anne Baxter who is apparently a wily thief who has crossed continents to steal and hide a valuable cache of diamonds. She looks like she would struggle to add a few extra sweets to her pick and mix bag in Woolies. Herbert Lom is as good as ever.

Home for Christmas (1990 TV Movie)

An odd sentimental mess of a film

[1/10 · 22 December 2022]

Oscar Wilde is reported to have said that you would have to have a heart of stone not to laugh at the death of Little Nell. I am not sure what he would make of this offering. Maudlin, sentimental and deeply unappealing. If I could award it zero stars I would have done. Every cliche under the sun (or should that be snow) was trotted out by the scriptwriters. The director laid on the pathos with a very large trowel and with plenty of gusto. If you must watch this film be prepared to break out into gales of laughter but in all the places where you were expected to burst into tears. Perhaps this sort of film plays better to a different audience.

A Matter of Life and Death (1946)

Brilliant concept superb film

[10/10 · 10 December 2022]

I first saw this film as a youngster perhaps sixty tears ago and my view of the film hasn't changed even if my understanding of it has improved. The film's premise might be a little difficult for some viewers and the cultural differences between the UK and other English speaking nations might be hard to overcome. If you are after gangsters and smart talking this is not for you. If you think a war film must have blood and gore then look elsewhere. If you want to be informed, educated and entertained then this is a good place to start. There are some tremendous visual devices to tease your senses and the court case arguments are extremely well done.

Poirot: Four and Twenty Blackbirds (1989) Season 1, Episode 4

England v Australia

[9/10 · 20 February 2022]

Another excellent episode in a series that consistently sets a high bar. The acting is first class and the setting and clothes capture the period perfectly. Good to see Hastings taking so much interest in the Test Match score. England versus Australia and England's bowlers doing well for a change. Too much time spent by some reviewers trying to show the producers made a mistake with England's competitor and not enough effort made to listen to the dialogue.

Any Which Way You Can (1980)

Quite funny but getting dated

[7/10 · 26 December 2021]

I enjoyed this film and have watched it a few times now. Best time to watch it is on a cold and rainy evening when there is nothing else to do. Eastwood is who he is and plays his character well. The rest of the cast, apart from Locke, keep the action moving along nicely. I have read in some of the reviews that the orang-utans were treated badly by their trainer. Anyone who has worked with animals would know that you don't get performances like that put in if they are afraid or mistreated. It is said a lie can be half way around the world before truth is out of bed and has its boots on. With the internet a lie can be all around the world twice before truth wakes up.

The Man Who Never Was (1956)

Could have been so much better

[4/10 · 14 November 2021]

Why did the producers cast Clifton Webb and Gloria Grahame. They even had to squeeze in the ridiculous idea that Gloria Grahame was a librarian. Clifton Webb is a huge weakness neither British nor a Colonial in behaviour or attitude. Surely there many better home grown actors who could have played these parts.

Love for Lydia (1977– )

An excellent rendering of Bates's work.

[10/10 · 3 November 2021]

Evensford is based on the town of Rushden in Northamptonshire. It grew up as a boot and shoe town in the late nineteenth century. Sadly the boot and shoe industry has mostly gone and many of the factories demolished or developed into flats. Rushden is in the midlands of England not the North and has a distinct accent that none of the actors bothered to copy. Bates captured the rural/urban nature of Evensford perfectly and this series does well with this too. The Aspens are not upper class; they have money and live in a large house in extensive grounds but these things do not raise them into the highest stratum of English society. A reader of the novel visiting Rushden today would still be able to find many of the places Bates wrote about such as, Caldecott, Knuston, Souldrop and Rushden Hall. The Prince Albert hotel still stands. It was the Queen Victoria hotel in Bates's time and is now converted to flats. The railway no longer runs but the station is there and sells a good pint of ale.

Holy Matrimony (1943)

Made on the wrong continent

[5/10 · 31 October 2021]

Not one of Arnold Bennett's best novels but one that deserved better treatment than it gets here. It would have been better made in the UK where the accents would have been better and the acting much improved. By the way the reviewer who thinks the "Five Towns" are in London should try studying a bit of geography. They are, as any fule kno, the towns in Staffordshire sometimes called Stoke-on-Trent.

Mother Wore Tights (1947)

Dreadful from start to finish

[1/10 · 24 October 2021]

This film deserves 0 stars or even minus stars. Bad acting and awful music combine to give even the least discerning viewer a headache. The kind of tosh churned out by Hollywood when all the talent had gone somewhere else.

The Anniversary (1968)

Find something else to do

[1/10 · 1 October 2021]

A dreadful film from start to finish. Why I watched it I will never know. Bette Davis! As ever over acting with no sense of comic timing nor menace. What the rest of the cast thought about her is probably in printable. Give it a miss.

A New Kind of Love (1963)

Awful film

[1/10 · 1 July 2021]

What a waste of talent and celluloid. Everything about it is just so bad including bottles of tomato ketchup on the restaurant tables. In Paris! Product placement is barely acceptable but this is a truly egregious example. Dull. Dull. Dull.