“Two Pints Of Guinness”
By Raymond Benson
Kino Lorber’s new double-bill Blu-ray release of comedy classics starring the legendary Alec Guinness features the nautical-themed The Captain’s Paradise, and Barnacle Bill. The former is often thought of as one of the Ealing comedies, but it is not so.
Paradise was nominated for the “Story” Academy Award (a category that no longer exists), and it was written by Alec Coppel. It is indeed a well-written and clever vehicle for Guinness, who delivers his usual above-it-all confident demeanor when his character is faced with domestic and professional disaster. He plays Captain Henry St. James, whom his chief officer Ricco (Charles Goldner) constantly calls a “genius” because Henry has found the perfect path to “paradise”—a double life with two women—one in the Spanish town of Kalique (actually Ceuta) in North Africa, next to Morocco, and one in Gibraltar. His ship, The Golden Fleece,...
By Raymond Benson
Kino Lorber’s new double-bill Blu-ray release of comedy classics starring the legendary Alec Guinness features the nautical-themed The Captain’s Paradise, and Barnacle Bill. The former is often thought of as one of the Ealing comedies, but it is not so.
Paradise was nominated for the “Story” Academy Award (a category that no longer exists), and it was written by Alec Coppel. It is indeed a well-written and clever vehicle for Guinness, who delivers his usual above-it-all confident demeanor when his character is faced with domestic and professional disaster. He plays Captain Henry St. James, whom his chief officer Ricco (Charles Goldner) constantly calls a “genius” because Henry has found the perfect path to “paradise”—a double life with two women—one in the Spanish town of Kalique (actually Ceuta) in North Africa, next to Morocco, and one in Gibraltar. His ship, The Golden Fleece,...
- 2/23/2020
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
The Letter (1929) Direction: Jean de Limur Cast: Jeanne Eagels, O.P. Heggie, Reginald Owen, Herbert Marshall, Irene Browne, Lady Tsen Mei, Tamaki Yoshiwara Screenplay: Garrett Fort; from W. Somerset Maugham's 1927 play, itself based on a Maugham story found in the 1924 collection The Casuarina Tree Oscar Movies, Pre-Code Movies Jeanne Eagels, Herbert Marshall, The Letter Having watched William Wyler's masterful 1940 film adaptation of W. Somerset Maugham's 1927 play The Letter and having read quite a bit about Broadway star Jeanne Eagels' remarkable talent, I was expecting to find at least a modicum of interest in Jean de Limur's 1929 version of Maugham's crime-of-passion melodrama. I'm sorry to report I was greatly disappointed, even though Garrett Fort's screenplay is quite similar to the one used in the Wyler version. Stuck on a Malayan rubber plantation with her aloof older husband (Reginald Owen), British subject Leslie Crosbie (Eagels) finds affection...
- 1/27/2012
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Cavalcade (1933) Direction: Frank Lloyd Cast: Clive Brook, Diana Wynyard, Herbert Mundin, Una O'Connor, Beryl Mercer, Irene Browne, Merle Tottenham, Frank Lawton, Ursula Jeans, Margaret Lindsay Screenplay: Reginald Berkeley, Sonya Levien; from Noel Coward's 1931 play Oscar Movies, Pre-Code Movies Herbert Mundin, Diana Wynyard, Clive Brook, Una O'Connor, Cavalcade Synopsis: Upstairs, Robert and Jane Marryot (Clive Brook, Diana Wynyard), and downstairs, Alfred and Ellen Bridges (Herbert Mundin, Una O'Connor), in a British household, from 1900 to 1933. The Pros: Cavalcade won Best Picture and Best Director Oscars for the period 1932-33 (basically from Aug. '32-Dec. '33) and was reportedly the biggest box-office hit of 1933, grossing more than $3.5m (approx. $121m today*). That makes it a historical curiosity. Best Actress Oscar nominee Diana Wynyard has one remarkable moment, walking among armistice revelers but not feeling at all like celebrating after having lost a son to the Great War. Noel Coward, for his [...]...
- 2/11/2011
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
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