A true biographical story, but mainly concentrates on the early life of Eileen Joyce, a famous pianist.
This film certainly has rough edges, but this suits the depiction of the location at the time being portrayed. Most of the film was centred on the childhood of pianist Eileen Joyce. She lived in Kalgoorlie-Boulder, Western Australia, and at the time (some would say still) it was an isolated and rough mining area. Eileen's father was there to try to find a fortune in gold, but was actually very poor. The story is really about the struggles that the family and Eileen went through to develop Eileen's piano playing skills. The acting is adequate, without being exceptional, but this is not as important as the story, which is well presented. Some of the scenes of Eileen as a young girl actually 'playing' the harmonica and piano are very unconvincing. This can be forgiven as the audience is primarily there to be informed, rather than be entertained in the conventional filmic sense. The only real criticism I have is that the film ends too soon. I learned that Eileen Joyce went through a lot to actually become famous, but I learned nothing about what she did to become as famous as she did. The viewer gets the feeling that the production company ran out of money, so the bulk of Eileen Joyce's life was dealt with in about a minute of celluloid - lots of the old newspaper headlines ploy! Overall, this is a good film, and well worth watching. I rated it 7 out of 10.
Le portrait de son père (1953)iMDB Rating: 5.1 Date Released : 22 November 1953 Genre : Comedy Stars : Jean Richard, Michèle Philippe, Brigitte Bardot, Mona Goya." /> Movie Quality : BRrip Format : MKV Size : 870 MB
My guide on Brigitte Bardot-movies tells me that 'Le portrait de son pere' (= his father's portrait) was never issued in the USA or in England. Not even in the late fifties, when Bardot's fame had rocketed skyhigh, and her earlier movies were eagerly re-issued for a quick cash-in.
One can well wonder why. In 'Le portrait de son pere' French actor Jean Richard convincingly plays a simple country lad. He inherites the shares of a Paris department store, and becomes its succesful manager.
This very French comedy provides us with a good and consistent story, emphasizing on family values. The acting is good, too. Young Brigitte Bardot plays the manager's Parisian step-sister. She is a well educated young girl here, without even the slightest hint to sex and nudity. Throughout the entire movie the manager's behaviour towards Brigitte is strictly one of brotherly love and concern; Brigitte's behaviour towards him follows the same pattern. In the end both Brigitte and her step-brother run off with a different partner, and not with each other.
I guess it's this lack of anything immoral that makes this BB-movie so unknown outside France. Quite unjustified in my opinion, because 'Le portrait de son pere' is good. To appreciate it, maybe in your mind you should first disconnect Brigitte Bardot with her usual trademarks of slight immorality, sex and nudity.
We're Not Married! (1952)iMDB Rating: 6.4 Date Released : 17 December 1952 Genre : Comedy, Romance Stars : Ginger Rogers, Marilyn Monroe, Victor Moore, Fred Allen Movie Quality : BRrip Format : MKV Size : 870 MB
A Justice of the Peace performed weddings a few days before his license was valid. A few years later five couples learn they have never been legally married. Annabel Norris, already Mrs. Mississippi and ready to enter the Mrs. America contest, is now free to enter the Miss Mississippi contest.
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Review :
WE'RE NOT MARRIED! (Edmund Goulding, 1952) **1/2
This is another early Marilyn Monroe picture; in this case, it's a compendium of stories involving a handful of marriages – presided over by reliable Victor Moore – which are discovered to have been illegal because his term of office hadn't yet officially started when the ceremony was performed! So, he's made to send each of these a letter explaining the awkward situation and, according to where they stand at that particular moment in their married life, see how they decide to act upon it. The couples are played by Fred Allen and Ginger Rogers, David Wayne and Marilyn Monroe, Paul Douglas and Eve Arden, Louis Calhern and Zsa Zsa Gabor, and Eddie Bracken and Mitzi Gaynor. The least episode is the one with Douglas and Arden, where the latter becomes suspicious of just what goes on during the former's business trips; the Calhern-Gabor episode is mildly interesting for having her turn out a schemer – planning to appropriate her husband's fortune with the help of shyster lawyer Paul Stewart…until he's saved by the propitious arrival of Moore's letter!; Wayne has a hard time adjusting because of Monroe's triumph in a "Mrs. Mississippi" contest – believing his troubles over when the marriage is revealed to have been null, his 'wife' promptly enrolls in a "Miss Mississippi" competition (which, naturally, she wins); Bracken is a soldier who goes AWOL in order to consolidate his wedding vows when it transpires that his child (whose birth is imminent) may be declared illegitimate – Lee Marvin appears briefly as Bracken's buddy in this, one of the two most satisfying episodes; the other is the one featuring constantly-bickering pair Rogers and Allen, which unbearable situation threatens to sink their early-morning radio show (where they're ironically billed as the ideal married couple)! Again, the film is handled with utmost professionalism – and is undeniably entertaining while it's on – but which now feels dated and undistinguished.
Teodora, imperatrice di Bisanzio (1954)iMDB Rating: 6.1 Date Released : 2 July 1954 Genre : Drama, Adventure, Romance Stars : Georges Marchal, Gianna Maria Canale, Renato Baldini, Irene Papas. Teodora, a Roman courtesan and former slave girl, marries the Roman emperor Justinian and assumes the throne as Empress of Rome. But the divide between nobility and slave is too great. Teodora seeks justice for her people, and revolution and armed conflict erupt in both Byzantium and Rome." /> Movie Quality : BRrip Format : MKV Size : 700 MB
Teodora, a Roman courtesan and former slave girl, marries the Roman emperor Justinian and assumes the throne as Empress of Rome. But the divide between nobility and slave is too great. Teodora seeks justice for her people, and revolution and armed conflict erupt in both Byzantium and Rome.
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Review :
A show of splendid costumes.
The director of this movie Riccardo Freda, made films of all sort, even fantasy-horror films and this for a lapse of time of 40 years. Maciste al l'inferno (1962) among others is still worth seeing. This movie is full of beautiful women, of course Teodora (a magnificent Gianna Maria Canale) and the treacherous Faidia (Irene Papas!). The general Belisario, (Nerio Bernardi) a complice of Teodora, who wants to save the empire, is also worth to be mentioned. The emperor Justinian (Georges Marchal) acts like a fool but sometimes Teodora has also good ideas he must admit. We have a look at the justice of that time, presided by Justinian and in the politics of the blue and the green factions. After all an entertaining movie and not at least for the splendid costumes.
Five Days (1954)iMDB Rating: 5.8 Date Released : 25 June 1954 Genre : Crime, Drama Stars : Dane Clark, Cecile Chevreau, Paul Carpenter, Thea Gregory Movie Quality : BRrip Format : MKV Size : 700 MB
A man hires a hitman to kill him so his wife can collect on his life insurance. He changes his mind, but he must get to the killer and tell him so before the killer gets to him first.
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Review :
Paid to Kill - worth the money to see it
Taking advantage of arrangements favoured by the UK's Eady levy (a state film subsidy established after the war) in 1950, American producer Robert Lippert formed a business alliance with Hammer studios. Under the agreement, Lippert would provide American acting talent - frequently shop-worn stars or just supporting actors who fancied a profitable trip out of the country - while Hammer would supply the rest of the cast and the production facilities. Together they would split the profits. Famous for his concern with the bottom line, Lippert produced over 140 films between 1946 and 1955, characteristically genre pieces such as I Shot Jesse James or Rocketship XM. For the British deal, most of the films were noir-ish thrillers -including 5 DAYS/ PAID TO KILL.
Dane Clark appeared several times under the production arrangement, but makes one of his most successful entries here as a man in a jam, with a plan, and a dame. Possessing a characteristic persecuted look, Clark is eminently suited to the role of businessman James Nevill who - fearing that a big deal has gone sour - pays a friend to kill him, to secure insurance money for his unsuspecting wife. Nevill abruptly needs to change his murderous instructions when matters change for the better, but cannot find his unreliable friend. He finds the repeated attempts on his life - whoever it is making them - too close for comfort. Says a business acquaintance of Nevill's business style that: "it's okay for cutthroat and adventure - but not for the City of London." Such a contrast exists elsewhere in a film containing one or two jarring, humorous scenes, featuring Charles Hawtrey (a non-speaking part) partnering Nevill's troublesome, truculent investor. Away from these distractions the film is much stronger, notably in the understated love for Nevill shown by his secretary Joan (Cecile Chavreau), which is played subtly. Although for many the film's final twist is telegraphed someway in advance, 5 Days/Paid To Kill is reasonably suspenseful and largely successful on its own terms, efficiently directed by Tully.
La tratta delle bianche (1952)iMDB Rating: 7.2 Date Released : 25 September 1952 Genre : Drama Stars : Eleonora Rossi Drago, Marc Lawrence, Ettore Manni, Silvana Pampanini." /> Movie Quality : HDrip Format : MKV Size : 700 MB
LA TRATTA DELLE BIANCHE (WHITE SLAVE TRADE) is a sensationalized and semi-tawdry melodrama about a prostitution ring. The women in the cast are a who's-who? of sexy Italian actresses of the period: Eleonora Rossi-Drago, Silvana Pampanini, Tamara Lees, and Sophia Loren (Sofia Lazzaro). Marc Lawrence plays white-slaver Marquedi, a kind of two-bit Jimmy Cagney from American 30's gangster films, a genre which this movie attempts to emulate. He recruits trade by sponsoring marathon dance contests. Rival gang warfare over prostitutes, with the girls stuck in the middle of the fray, forms the nucleus of the film. Vittorio Gassman is Michele, a sleazy hanger-on for the vice syndicate. He and Lawrence both vie for Silvana Pampanini's affections. It's a film that is quite watchable and entertaining but which contains very little depth. There are several very lurid episodes including the brutal beating of Eleonora Rossi-Drago. In both Britain and the U.S. the picture was cut by 30 minutes to a 67 minute running time, atrociously dubbed, retitled to GIRLS MARKED DANGER and dumped in the U.S. by distributor I.F.E. into the grind houses and drive-ins. It was not reviewed by any of the major newspapers although Variety documents it twice. Its director, Luigi Comencini, has made quite a few good films in his career including the legendary BREAD LOVE AND DREAMS and BREAD LOVE AND JEALOUSY (FRISKY) with Gina Lollobrigida, the Italian "Boys' Town" film PROIBITO RUBARE, and an excellent adaptation of Elsa Morante's novel LA STORIA. This must qualify as an interesting guilty pleasure and although it is a distinctly lesser effort of his, it bears reviving and re-evaluating just to see this cast of actresses together in one film.
A merchant marine seaman is found murdered and suspicion falls upon the operator of a dime-a-dance honky tonk joint. A federal undercover agent is planted in the place to gather evidence, and he soon learns that the dive is only a cover-up for diamond-smuggling activities, and that one of the operation's henchmen, who is handy with a switch-blade knife, is the killer. Before they can be arrested, the henchman kills his boss and is shot while trying to escape.
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Review :
Phil Tucker does Robert Altman.
This endearing sleaze classic is another "film a clef" from the Grade Z mastermind of ROBOT MONSTER, BROADWAY JUNGLE and CAPE CANAVERAL MONSTERS. This pulpy exposé film is best known for the casting of the notorious Lenny Bruce and his wife Honey Harlowe, but actually they're secondary characters in this "dance hall". Lenny plays the henchman of the gangster-owner, slapping around anyone who tries to double-cross this dubious entrepreneur.
All things "Tucker-ian" are in abundance here: non-existent art direction (check out when customers want "to go to Hawaii", which basically means having some crummy palm tree put in front of their table while a dance hall girl smooches with them; that's the best set decoration in the entire film); badly overacted performances which go to the realm of baroquely cartoonish; impossibly dreary single-take medium-long shots in which you can view all the non-decor and the non-actors; and spare, washed-out cinematography only rivalled by Dreyer.
But also, DANCE HALL RACKET is perhaps Phil Tucker's most structurally challenging film. Not bad for a movie taking place entirely in a shabby set with three tables, a cramped generic office and a back alley (these limited locations also compliment the stagnant lives of their inhabitants). This "complex meta-narrative" operates on several planes at once. The time-old tradition of having a wraparound story is in effect here, as one detective explains to another that "shocking story" of all the crime and corruption in this dance hall, where we view scenes the detectives couldn't possibly have known, much less been a part of. Despite the known presences of Bruce, Honey, and everyone's favourite world-weary bad guy Timothy Farrell, there are really no major characters. Even the eccentric customers "wanting to go to Hawaii" take equal precedence. There is really no plot in this impressionistic study, despite the faint whispers of racketeering. I've only ever seen this movie on the video offered by Something Weird, and that print more than a few times has some small scenes repeated. Evidently, the reels were mixed up and someone stopped it, put the right one on and kept going. But leaving these moments in adds another bizarre touch to the screwy narrative. It's as confounding as anything by Alain Resnais.
By the same token, the latter incident is a classic example of how Tucker's filmography is in disrepair. Isn't it sadly ironic that the most well-preserved film in his legacy is ROBOT MONSTER... the film over which he threatened to commit suicide? Otherwise, the only remnants I've ever seen of Tucker's work come from some tattered composite prints. Phil Tucker is perhaps the last undiscovered country of Grade Z filmmaking. I mean, even Andy Milligan had a book written about him! Little exists in print about Mr. Tucker, and perhaps there are a few more films signed by him, that are collecting dust somewhere that need to be found. Because of his poverty row films, and the enigma surrounding their creator, his legacy remains a fascinating one.
Talk About a Stranger (1952)iMDB Rating: 6.4 Date Released : 18 April 1952 Genre : Drama, Film-Noir, Mystery Stars : George Murphy, Nancy Reagan, Billy Gray, Lewis Stone Movie Quality : HDrip Format : MKV Size : 870 MB
Coming-of-age story about a bratty kid who takes an instant dislike to a strange new neighbor. The boy sets off on a campaign to smear his name and spread vicious rumors about him. His parents just can't handle the boy. But after the kid endangers all the crops in the valley by his vandalism of the neighbors oil tank, he comes to realize that people are not always what they appear to be.
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Review :
The Worst Impulses In Your Mind
Kurt Kaszner who has certainly played his share of villains on the screen has come to settle down in a small California town in the citrus fruit growing area. He's surly, bad tempered, and scares off anyone trying remotely to be friendly to him. Especially young Billy Gray who has a paper route that Kaszner is on. Even Gray's father George Murphy can't get any kind of smile out of him.
In a small town, a fellow like Kaszner is bound to raise eyebrows, but no one outrightly accuses him of anything until a dog that young Mr. Gray has adopted is poisoned.
Of course there's a lot more to the story, but I won't spoil anything by going farther. Talk About A Stranger can be deadly if you don't know the facts and let the worst impulses in your mind start taking control.
Talk About A Stranger is an unpretentious film from MGM's B picture unit which has a simple message and speaks it plainly. Nancy Davis is in this as Gray's mother and Lewis Stone is in this as well in one of his last films.
The film has a nice moral lessons about jumping to conclusions before all the facts are in.
Because Jean Delannoy is now dismissed as cheesy by the new wave aficionados,most of his works are forgotten Too bad because his adaptation of William Irish is ,say,as good as the cold Truffaut's "the bride wore black" and much better than Robin Davis's poor and watered-down "J'ai épousé une ombre" (I married a shadow).Because watered-down this is absolutely not.The terrible and depressing conclusion of Irish's short story is thoroughly respected.
This "silent as a grave" short story is harrowing,suspenseful and deeply moving.The heroine -Irish's heroes are actually often heroines-see "the bride wore black") was born under a bad sign.All she tries to do in order to save her sentenced to death husband backfires on herself.The ending leaves the reader desperate.
As Clouzot did for Boileau Narcejac's "celle qui n'était plus" (which was to become the celebrated "diabolique"),the scenarists had to rewrite the story which took place in an American city probably NY city:they transferred the action to a French circus.This is no masterpiece,and we sense little of Irish's tragical genius.But Michele Morgan and Raf Vallone are strong actors and there's a good supporting cast.Suspense is sustained till the last minute ,and ,unlike Robin Davis,Delannoy does not indulge himself a happy end.Give it a chance!
Lease of Life (1954)iMDB Rating: 7.0 Date Released : 1 December 1955 Genre : Drama Stars : Robert Donat, Kay Walsh, Denholm Elliott, Adrienne Corri Movie Quality : HDrip Format : MKV Size : 700 MB
The parson of a small rural community knows he is dying and this makes him reconsider his life so far and what he can still do to help the community.
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Review :
Textures of an English village Donat-style
Fans of Robert Donat will not want to miss this one. As I watched the film, with its strong and unflinching view of daily life in which the Church structures every act in every household, I kept thinking of Agatha Christie and her conception of Miss Marple's detection of crime in an English village. In Donat's parsonage, there are no murders, but there are small transgressions, which, in the large scheme of things, may matter little, but under the microscope of vicarage life, mean as much as a daughter's music career hinging on 20£s being too little.
Donat's character is reminiscent of Mr. Fred Rogers, of television fame, who just passed away. As with Mr. Rogers, his view of life is one of gentle humor and of quiet strength, always facing up to the challenge that each individual has in life when he is placed on this earth. The screen writer Eric Ambler is unknown to me, but his view of daily life in 1950's England, while a decade away from the war, was still one of struggle with a slightly grim, but not cheerless, overcast. The women are all strong, and, while the men not all good-looking, are a tad on the shrill and demanding side. We wonder if Donat's parson could survive without Kay Walsh's, and then the daughter Adrienne Corri's, constant ministrations, verbal and actual. The other women in the village also seem to be like harpies, which makes one wonder about the women in Ambler's life.
Adrienne Corri, unless I am mistaken, actually does play the piano in the film-- the big Romantic composers into which she pours her heart as an escape from the potentially stifling life in Hinton. We see her as a younger beauty in Jean Renoir's classic "The River," which she made just four years earlier. Her beau in the film is the young Denholm Elliott, who in a long and distinguished career, plays, here, a rather aggressive and unsympathetic, though professionally encouraging to Adrienne, church organist.
The movie is about character, and the performances remind us that ordinary life in a small English town revolved around the structure that religious life gave it, and that both pleasure and pain hinged on the degree of conformity that one presented to the outside world. Kay Walsh's character, both heroic and petty, also reminds us of how many vicar's wives have been sacrificed in real life to the altar of their husband's career and to fulfillig the lives of their children, through which they lived vicariously, as Mrs. Thorne through her daughter's musical talent.
This film was an Ealing Film Studio production, and like other Ealing products, bears an honesty and respect for the dignity of ordinary people in the telling of its story, regardless of the director. Is this saying too much for a movie company, or is it the English character? One has only to consider the other Ealing Studio films which Turner Movie Classics has made available from time to time, "The Magic Box" (another Donat classic), "Shiralee" (an early Peter Finch), as well as a number of great comedies, like "The Wrong Box," "Man in the White Suit" (an Alec Guinnes classic), and others, that poke fun at human nature and its foibles with a sense of manic pleasure, but never losing sight of gentle humanity.
"Lease of Life" was apparently the second to the last film that Donat made before he succumbed to chronic asthma, a tragedy as that ailment today can be so easily controlled. His last film "Inn of the Sixth Happiness" was ironically made for Hollywood, which he tended to avoid. In it he plays a dignified mandarin, both looking and speaking the part -- the only actor, in my experience, to have mastered the Chinese language in a western film.
For "Lease of Life" four**** out of five***** for its rarity.
They Who Dare (1954)iMDB Rating: 5.7 Date Released : 3 May 1954 Genre : Drama, History, War Stars : Dirk Bogarde, Denholm Elliott, Kay Callard, William Russell. In Greece during the war a small group of British commandoes and patriots land on an island with orders to attack two airfields from which the Luftwaffe is threatening allied forces in Egypt. The island is crawling with troops, and even moving by night the men soon run into trouble." /> Movie Quality : HDrip Format : MKV Size : 700 MB
In Greece during the war a small group of British commandoes and patriots land on an island with orders to attack two airfields from which the Luftwaffe is threatening allied forces in Egypt. The island is crawling with troops, and even moving by night the men soon run into trouble.
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Review :
Average British WW2 commando adventure that would have looked better in black & white
Lewis Milestone's 1954 WW2 adventure has been largely forgotten about over time, and with justified reason as it is largely forgettable after viewing. However, that being said, it is better than many similar themed war films that were produced by the British during the 1950's and 1960's. Milestone was a pretty prolific director in his day, directing some superb films such as "All Quiet on the Western Front" (1930) - which I highly regard as being one of the best war films ever made and the original adaptation of John Steinbeck's novel "Of Mice and Men" starring Lon Chaney Jr. He also directed "Halls of Montezuma", a WW2 film about the Marines fighting in the Pacific. And later on, would direct Gregory Peck in the Korean war film "Pork Chop Hill". So Milestone was familiar with the war genre, and highly experienced, but "They Who Dare" stands out as one of his lesser known and forgettable efforts. A film that essentially would have faired better had it been in black and white, the colour looks awful in places as the characters seem to be portrayed against fake and animated backgrounds. According to IMDb, it was filmed in a studio in Surrey in England due to an apparent low-budget, which is further proved by some low-key explosions which serve to be the best of the lacklustre and small amount of action on show here.
Set during the Dodecanese Campaign, a failed attempt by the British to capture the Dodecanese islands in the Meditterean in 1943 following Italy's surrender, a small group of Royal Marine Commando's aided by a few Greek resistance fighters land on the island of Rhodes to infiltrate the German and Italian lines and to blow up two major airfields on the island which are being used to launch attacks on the Allies in North Africa. Led by Lt. Graham (Dirk Bogarde) the team faces many challenges, including lack of water, as they try and avoid detection from the swarms of German and Italian patrols deep in the heart of the island. They got in OK... but will they survive the mission and get back to the rendez-vous point with the sub in time? I was bored for the majority of this film's duration. The lack of action served to accentuate just how slow the film is, and as I already mentioned, it looks terrible in colour. It looks like a half-done job, like many films from this time that were faced with a low-budget but still tried to cheaply award their production the praised title of being in Technicolor. It just doesn't work here. The editing could have been a lot better... many scenes on the submarine at the beginning could have been chopped, including the embarrassing and distracting scene with the Greek submarine captain laughing at the cartoon drawings of Lt. Graham over dinner. "They Who Dare" would be one of Milestone's weaker films, albeit it isn't entirely bad. It is an enjoyable story and easy enough to follow, so served to be a decent enough way to pass two hours. Wouldn't be going out of my way to track it down, though.
Las tres perfectas casadas (1953)iMDB Rating: 7.3 Date Released : 12 March 1953 Genre : Drama, Romance Stars : Arturo de Córdova, Laura Hidalgo, José María Linares-Rivas, René Cardona Movie Quality : HDrip Format : MKV Size : 870 MB
During their collective marriage anniversaries, three husbands find out their best friend has died and decide to open a letter he left to be opened after his death.
No Room for the Groom (1952)iMDB Rating: 6.6 Date Released : 17 July 1953 Genre : Comedy Stars : Tony Curtis, Piper Laurie, Don DeFore, Spring Byington. Alvah, a young GI who happens to own a vineyard, elopes to Las Vegas with Lee, his housekeeper's daughter. But Alvah's chicken pox postpone the wedding night. The rest revolves around more delays to the consummation, caused by Lee's manipulative Mama and the flock of mostly obnoxious relatives with whom she's filled the house." /> Movie Quality : HDrip Format : MKV Size : 700 MB
Alvah, a young GI who happens to own a vineyard, elopes to Las Vegas with Lee, his housekeeper's daughter. But Alvah's chicken pox postpone the wedding night. The rest revolves around more delays to the consummation, caused by Lee's manipulative Mama and the flock of mostly obnoxious relatives with whom she's filled the house.
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Review :
All that mom does not allow
Some people are going to dismiss "No room for the groom" because it 's not Sirkesque,that is to say it's not the flamboyant melodrama they are used to.However,if you read between the lines ,you'll notice how Sirk is present even in the funny scenes (although the chicken pox is a bad idea,unworthy of him).His attack against selfish people whose materialism knows no bounds is the same we find in "all that Heaven allows" (1956).His hero portrayed by Tony Curtis is a distant relative of the gardener in "Heaven" ;both are afraid of "modern" life ,both are misfits ,the former in his bride's family,the latter in the bunch of snobs at Sarah's cocktail party.Sometimes the lines turn dramatic as Alvah says to the over possessive mother that he too cares for his country and he may die for them :had Sirk made this movie five years later,it could have been a darkly humorous spoof on "a time to love and a time to die" (1958) Alvah is a Capraesque character:he is a generous gent,and generous gentle naive people are preys for evil people who love to pretend they are mad to satisfy their dirty deeds.
The mom-in-law dreams of a rich marriage for her only daughter,a subject which will be also present in Sirk's follow-up ," has anybody seen my gal?" .Both movies display Capra's influence and both prove that money can't buy happiness ...or love.
Piper Laurie and Tony Curtis are good-looking newly-weds longing for an impossible honeymoon.
A great Sirk?Certainly not!But not the dud lots of people talk about either!
Secrets d'alcôve (1954)iMDB Rating: 5.6 Date Released : 9 December 1954 Genre : Comedy Stars : Jeanne Moreau, Richard Todd, Dawn Addams, Vittorio De Sica." /> Movie Quality : BRrip Format : MKV Size : 870 MB
Four tales ,all dealing with "the secrets of the bed" but actually only the final one deals with what the audience is expecting,sex. Three diplomats and their chauffeur who have to stop in the country for the night begin to tell stories about beds.
Segment one :"billet" WW2.An English officer (Richard Todd)is sent to a house in France .A woman (Jeanne Moreau) is expecting him and she's expecting a baby too (in one week);it 's easy to guess which comes next but the two actors are really endearing .Richard Todd is wonderful as the "midwife" .Made by Henry Decoin,this is much closer to his gentle comedies ("Premier Rendez-vous") than to his numerous films noirs.
Segment two: "divorce" A man (Vittorio De Sica ) spends a night in a hotel with a woman (Dawn Addams) he's never seen before just to get a recording of adultery;it's very talky and a little boring in spite of the talent of the actors.Directed by Gianni Franciolini.
Segment three :"rude awakening" the only one with a working -class person ,the chauffeur !A driver meets a girl who's got a flat tire on the road;as a good macho,he tells the lady she won't be able to manage by herself and obviously he is right.During the night the girl (sexy Françoise Arnoul) gets into his trailer.Is it the beginning of a great love story? She invites him to her desirable mansion .He is on cloud nine,but the harder they come... Mouloudji sings his lovely ballad "Un Jour Tu Verras" which tells a love story in the future tense which makes it even more magical . Directed by Ralph Habib.
Segment four: "La Pompadour's bed" :one can only dream of what Sacha Guitry would have done with such a subject!Jean Delannoy was not up to scratch ,as far as comedies are concerned ,and the story of a courtesan (hot Martine Carol) who gains and loses the famous bed (a good luck charm she says)according to the fluctuation in politics is repetitive ,in spite of the presence of Bernard Blier and François Périer.
Johnny Guitar (1954)iMDB Rating: 7.7 Date Released : 27 May 1954 Genre : Drama, Western Stars : Joan Crawford, Sterling Hayden, Mercedes McCambridge, Scott Brady Movie Quality : HDrip Format : MKV Size : 870 MB
Vienna has built a saloon outside of town, and she hopes to build her own town once the railroad is put through, but the townsfolk want her gone. When four men hold up a stagecoach and kill a man the town officials, led by Emma Small, come to the saloon to grab four of Vienna's friends, the Dancin' Kid and his men. Vienna stands strong against them, and is aided by the presence of an old acquaintance of hers, Johnny Guitar, who is not what he seems.
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Review :
From humble Republic, a remarkable western.
When Johnny Guitar opened in Brazil probably in 1955, it was released through a big chain of movie theaters and I remember it being quite successful at the box office, no doubt also helped by the song that was a huge hit. Except for a few critics, most people took it just as a good western with no second thoughts. But there was more to it, "as François Truffaut wrote in his review when it was first shown in France "Never trust in appearances. Beauty and profundity are not always found in the "obvious" traditional places; a Trucolor Western from humble Republic can throb with the passion of "l'amour fou" or whisper with an evening delicacy."" (from "The Western" by Phil Hardy, page232). Seeing it recently I was impressed with the fast pace of the film, the great dialogs, the unusual settings, the incredibly strong presence of Joan Crawford, the hysterical character played by Mercedes McCambridge. Nicholas Ray was a creative director and his great achievement in this film was to take the story seriously, and not try to make a satire.
The Dam Busters (1955)iMDB Rating: 7.4 Date Released : 16 July 1955 Genre : Drama, History, War Stars : Richard Todd, Michael Redgrave, Ursula Jeans, Charles Carson Movie Quality : HDrip Format : MKV Size : 870 MB
The British are desperate to shorten the length of WW2 and propose a daring raid to smash Germany's industrial heart. At first the objective looks impossible until a British scientist invents an ingenious weapon capable of destroying the planned target.
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Review :
Some Dam fine flying
Just like to respond to Howard Morley's comments. The dam's raids were urgently needed, and it took only a few months to form 617, train them and attack the dams. Quite a feat I'm sure you'll agree. The film nicely conveys the struggles and the friendships of the crews, put together from the best of the Commonwealth fliers. Even if the screenplay does take some rather large liberties with the story.
As to Guy, he was killed in 1944 on his way back from acting as Master Bomber on a raid over Germany. His Mosquito crashed in Holland, killing him and his navigator. To this day there are no explanations for the crash. Guy should not have been flying at all, but he was so desperate to get back in the air that Bomber Harris gave in and let him. A tragedy. Of the crew of G-George (Guy's ship on the raid) none of them survived the war. The crew crashed whilst trying to bomb the Dortmund-Ems canal later in 1943.
The film is a fitting tribute to the raid, and the massive losses of 617. Of the 19 ships to go out, 11 came back. Of the 77 crew lost on the raid, only 1 survived. This is why the dams were not bombed again. And the problem with the Sorpe was that it was an earth damn, the bombs were not very effective as with the Eder and Moehne.
How do I know all this? My Great-grandmother was a Gibson.
The Last Posse (1953)iMDB Rating: 6.6 Date Released : 4 July 1953 Genre : Western Stars : Broderick Crawford, John Derek, Charles Bickford, Wanda Hendrix. When the anxiously awaited posse returns with neither prisoners nor the stolen money, we learn in flashback what happened. Having been cheated by Sampson Drune, a father and his two sons have robbed him and fled. A posse led by Drune took off after them and although unwanted, the town's drunken Sheriff joined them. The Sheriff's influence on Jeb, the adopted son of Drune, was the key to Jed later..." /> Movie Quality : HDrip Format : MKV Size : 700 MB
When the anxiously awaited posse returns with neither prisoners nor the stolen money, we learn in flashback what happened. Having been cheated by Sampson Drune, a father and his two sons have robbed him and fled. A posse led by Drune took off after them and although unwanted, the town's drunken Sheriff joined them. The Sheriff's influence on Jeb, the adopted son of Drune, was the key to Jed later revealing who killed Drune, the robbers, and what happened to the money.
Watch The Last Posse Trailer :
Review :
What's he trying to do-die with his boots on?
The Last Posse is directed by Alfred L. Werker and co-written by Seymour Bennett, Connie Bennett and Kenneth Gamet. It stars Broderick Crawford, Charles Bickford, John Derek and Wanda Hendrix. Primary location used for the shoot is Lone Pine, Alabama Hills, California, with Burnett Guffey on photography duties. Out of Columbia Pictures, story tells of how a returning posse on the trail of outlaw robbers, return to Roswell, New Mexico, minus their leader and with their accompanying sheriff critically wounded.
Much better than its B movie origins, The Last Posse is strong in characterisations, visually smart and being structured as it is, primarily in flashback, also getting a bit of unusual intrigue tossed into the Oatmeal. It's also very well acted, with Crawford and Bickford making for a nice gruff opposing pair, and the support cast is filled with solid performers like Henry Hull, Warner Anderson and Skip Homeier. Director Werker (He Walked By Night) does a good job of keeping the story nicely paced, dotting the plot with some well staged action along the way, and the finale, thankfully not telegraphed, doesn't disappoint at all. But in the main it's the writing and Guffey's photography that lifts it above average. The various members of the posse are either troubled or driven by motive, making for a good psychological mix, and this in turn is well realised by Guffey's crisp black and white photography of the Lone Pine, Alabama Hills landscapes. The numerous boulders and odd shaped rocks impose on the characters and the desert flats make a grim stage for the unfolding story.
Wherever She Goes (1951)iMDB Rating: 7.0
