Change Your Image
stonethrower88
Ratings
Most Recently Rated
Reviews
A Likely Story (1947)
great cinematography, solid cast, story works, but too stagey and never really works
Barbara Hale is a central character who is trying to find success as an artist. Unfortunately no one likes her paintings. She meets an ex-GI who is trying to kill himself and the mob gets involved as well.
Supposed to be a madcap comedy and moves at the pace of a good comedy but none of it is very funny,
Looks expensive with plenty of beautiful sets. but the dialogue comes out like everyone is playing a part and it's difficult to believe or sympathize with any of them.
I found myself looking to turn it off after about 20-30 minutes. It never seems to gel into an interesting story. Just wanders around looking for the hook that never arrives.
perhaps this was intended as a loss leader to save taxes at the end of the year.
Gone to Earth (1950)
Glorious depiction of tragic tale
Does anyone know if Jennifer Jone's voice was over-dubbed? It almost sounds like it. The accent doesn't seem to fit her true voice.
cinematography is some of the best ever especially considering the 1950's release
great acting beautiful costumes a little too wordy
But nevertheless quite impressive
inspired Kate Bush, perhaps even sampled by her as well.
characterizations are so pressburger and powell
jennifer jones while impressive seems a bit out of place if it truly be taken for an English tale though she still impresses.
The Inner Circle (1946)
what no one noticed the obvious influence....
...On Michael Keaton in the 80's noir spoof Johnny Dangerously???? The inner circle even had a bit of tongue-in-cheek itself, though in much more of a 1940's innocence.
William Frawley's in top form and
Adele Mara really shines in a part that seems tailor made for her
The cinematography is surprisingly top-notch, though you wouldn't notice if you turned it off after the first 15 minutes. It gets a bit more impressive as it goes along.
Though not finest quality direction, it does move well with some snappy dialogue and interesting staging.
Don't expect academy award performances, but it's still worth a watch, just for a few chuckles and to see it's influence on much later noir spoofs.
The Natural (1984)
Bloated, sickeningly sappy, over-rated. Nice effort but fails on many levels.
Yet another feel good sports movie. Overwrought and too full of itself to be meaningful. Over-rated.
Worthy on effort, but realization falls short.
Much better sports movie and specifically baseball themed is "Bang the Drum Slowly" Much better performances, that don't try so hard to melodramatic.
Robert DeNiro in a under-rated performance that seems quite genuine and very believable.
the Natural is quite artificial, and not worthy of the heaping of praise it receives.
The Other (1972)
Atmospheric classic horror from the early 70's
There are few psychological thrillers better than "The Other".
This haunting story will stay with you for days after viewing and will continue to hold a place in your subconscious for years afterward.
The acting is top notch, the music is perfectly in tune with the events on screen, and the atmosphere is especially memorable. The dialog and cinematography blend together in sync to cast a bright yet foreboding feeling throughout the entire picture. And that's one of the most unique elements to this movie. It uses a fair amount of calm and peaceful visual elements to tell a very disturbing tale. And it all seems to work very well together, even though it would seem to be contradictory.
I have asked this question on the message board, but I wanted to raise the question here in this movie commentary. There is another film that was produced I believe around this same time period, late 60's early 70's that included some of the same elements inherent in "The Other" However, I'm not sure it was a horror picture as much as a drama. It also included elements of incest in the plot. The cinematography was similar, with soft focus lensing and a rather slow, methodical pace to it. Can anyone remember such a movie? It may have included Julie Christie or a similar actress in it as well.