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Reviews
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (2008)
Not for me...
I see literally hundreds of films from the 30's and I'm sorry. This film does not have what I call the "Ring of Truth". The music jumps from recreations of period music to the real music. I also thought it odd to film in England and use so many, at least what I thought were, American Actors trying to do English Accents. I was not impressed. However, I must tell you, I'm a projectionist in a theatre, and I'm running the last half right now and this is my second day and I am trying to give it a chance. It's very hard to hear all the Dialogue as a Projectionist and so I will rent it some day on DVD and look at it with my wife who is 74 in our living room theatre and see what she thinks.
Stagecoach (1966)
Not as bad as it might sound
You see Bing, Red, Ann, and so forth, and you might skip this, but if you ignore the "fading star" thing and just enjoy it as a little play put on by some true pros, you'll enjoy this. It has one of the best chase scenes ever, with Indians and Helicopter shots of the racing horses and stage, it has a great performance by Bob Cummings and Kennan Wynn, and I actually felt the hair coming up on the back of my neck during the storm on the cliff, even though I knew it was just a process shot against a painting. It's not Shakespeare, but hey, it's a fun 1960's good ole American film just as TV production values and over lit sound stages were taking over film making and as the last reviewer said, just before the Anti Hero revolution.
The Man Who Could Work Miracles (1936)
I loved this movie
The previous reviewer is decidedly looking for a religious message, and kind of missing the point of the whole film. He even mentions the point of the whole film, but doesn't realize it. See it for yourself and decide. It's an old move and may be slightly dated in attitudes I'm sure, but it's a product of it's time and I think HG was alive when this film was made. I wonder what he thought of it. It's one of my favorite movies and should be seen on a bigger screen. Great special effects for it's time, and clever I thought. And
be careful what you wish for. That's what the film is about. It fits into an Idea I had of films that are "Almost SiFi," but not. I include this film, Orlando, Perfume, and the Truman Show in that category.
Third Dimensional Murder (1941)
Also have a super 8 of this
I Also have a super 8 copy of this film. There is a 16mm copy on e-bay now as I type... Yes I thought the 3-D was a little off or something, but I see by these other comments, you have to hold the glasses farther from your face. I just had to get back from the screen really far before it looked right, then it was pretty cool. Yes the film is not that good, but the 3-D is fun and it is very early for 3-D so it's historic. I hope some one will put out a sequential DVD of this and some of the other short subjects that were made. How bought you guys who ran the 3-D fest in California a couple years ago? Get some of these new prints you had made on Seq DVD!
Spitfire (1934)
Katharine Hepburn as a hill billy???
Any chance to see Katharine Hepburn in something I haven't seen or from her early movie career is a treat, and on that level the film is amusing, but she's horrible miscast as a Hill Billy. Her famous New England enunciation slips through, making lines like, "I'd better rustle up some Vittles" pretty ludicrous. She's so pretty and so young
it almost overcomes this major flaw. The story is an old fashioned melodrama, and there fore, a younger generation may think this pretty corny stuff, but this was the staple of American Entertainment well into the 1940's. It has its moments, but you might need to be a die-hard movie buff to appreciate it.
Blonde or Brunette (1927)
One of the Lost Gems of the Silent era
This is one of those Bedroom Farce type things so popular around the turn of the century. I think it was from a play, so it had a track record before being turned into a movie. Not many folks realize what a leading man Adolphe could be in his younger years as a silent star, and a comedian too, although most of this film is played pretty straight and one of the reasons it works so well. It sucks you in slowly like a good John Cleese skit, so by the time it gets silly, you're totally charmed by it. I loved it, and if it doesn't make you laugh out loud, you're not
well something. The photography is also great with those big screen wide shots showing gorgeous rooms with high ceilings, another hallmark of the middle silent era. You can see and feel where these people live. The sets are very much a part of the story. If you can catch this film at a festival on a big screen, that's really the way to see it. You wouldn't think a picture that takes place indoors would benefit from the big screen, but many Silent Era pictures do, and this is a perfect example of what the great 1920's films were all about. You wouldn't think a film with no sound would have snappy Dialogue too, but it does. Ha! I just saw this film at the 2005 Capitol Fest in Rome, NY and it was my favorite film of the weekend.
I Killed Geronimo (1950)
Old Fashioned Western
Completely silly, but very likable in that old 1930's Saturday Afternoon vein. Who cares if it's authentic or not, as long as there is plenty of action, horses, gunfights, Indians, a girl in trouble, and the handsome hero to save her, but... He can't reveal his true identity because he's undercover trying to break up the gang selling guns to Geronimo. I bought it in 16mm and it has a real good look and feel and an almost 3-D effect on the big screen.
Robin Hood (1922)
Very Merry Men
Every one in Robin Hood's Merry Band skip every where. They can't walk, they all skip, especially Fairbanks. Can Fairbanks ever enter a room like a normal person? Not until later pictures... A little overly Merry if you ask me, but Wallace Beery is a revelation. Young and Handsome. Totally unexpected. The Special effects photography is nice too. There are many good things in this film, and it's well worth a look, but it does get kind of Fairbanks style hammy. He later took fencing lessons for Black Pirate, but he hadn't bothered here yet. He kind of Whacks at everybody. Alan Hale plays Little John, and did again 16 years later in the Errol Flynn Version.
Unconquered (1947)
Only DeMille, All DeMille
Only DeMille could manage, or would even dare, to have George Washington, and a Slave Girl Bathing Scene in the same movie. Boris Karloff is a hoot as the Indian with a weird accent. It's great politically incorrect fun from start to finish. In this picture, the only Good actor is a Dead one...