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Mystic Pizza (1988)
Coming of age in Mystic Connecticut
Hree young women working in a pizza place experience love, heartbreak, and growing pains in Mystic Pizza from 1988.
The film is loaded with young actors just starting out: Julia Robert's, Annabeth Gish, Lili Taylor, Vincent D'onofrio, Matt Damon, Adam Storke, and William R. Moses.
The film begins with the wedding of Jojo and Bill (Taylor and D'Onofrio). The minister describes marriage as being permanent; otherwise, you burn in the fires of hell. Jojo faints. The wedding is off.
Daisy (Roberts) has a dalliance with a wealthy young man (Storke); Kat falls for a married man (Moses) when she babysits his daughter.
The location is Mystic, Connecticut, and it is very reminiscent tourist towns on Cape Cod, where I worked. Additionally, as in Plymouth Mass where I worked, there is a large Portuguese population. The owner (Conchata Ferrell) of the pizza parlor is Portuguese, and her pizza recipe is a secret.
Good acting all around, an entertaining film, and fun to see these young actors, all of whom went on to varying degrees of success.
Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol (1962)
A favorite
This is my sister's favorite version of A Christmas Carol.
The special first aired on December 18, 1962, on NBC and was the first animated Christmas special to be produced specifically for television.
In this animated version, Mr. Magoo (voiced and sung by Jim Backus) arrives at the theater to play Ebenezer Scrooge, a musical version with music and lyrics by Jule Styne and Bob Merrill.
Magoo is perfect as the mean Scrooge, transformed by visions that make him realize he's on the wrong path.
Additional voices are provided by Morey Amsterdam, Jack Cassidy, Royal Dano, Paul Frees, Joan Gardner, Jane Kean, Marie Matthews, Laura Olsher, Les Tremayne, and John Hart.
Sure to put you in the Christmas spirit.
Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)
Not quite the Capote story
There's a lot to love about Breakfast at Tiffany's. And a few things not to love.
The film is based on a story by Truman Capote, about a young woman, Holly Golightly, who escapes her poor roots and a marriage to an older man to live in New York City.
Holly's basically a kept woman who gets $50 from her male escorts to go to the powder room; she also receives $100 for a weekly prison visit to a man named Sally Tomato. Without realizing it, she's giving him info about a narcotics ring.
Holly is always losing her door key, to the annoyance of her Japanese neighbor, played by Mickey Rooney, one of the main problems with this film.
Eventually kept woman meets kept man, and they fall in love.
This isn't actually Capote's story. First of all, he had Marilyn Monroe in mind. Given the turn Audrey gave it, people find that ridiculous. What I find ridiculous is Audrey coming from Texas trash and married at 15 to Buddy Ebsen. Given Marilyn's background, it's much more believable.
Hepburn brings style, grace, and sophistication to the role, but she's playing her own character, not Holly.
The final scene, with Cat, is a toughy. In the story, Holly doesn't find Cat, but tries. Eventually she moved to Brazil. Her former fiancé sees Cat living with a neighbor.
At least in the film, they're reunited.
Bhowani Junction (1956)
Chaos as Britain leaves India
Bhowani Junction from 1956 stars Ava Gardner and Stewart Granger. It takes place in India during the turbulent time of the British withdrawal from India.
As others have pointed out, George Cukor was an odd choice of director for a film with so many crowd scenes and scenes of violence.
The core of the story is an Anglo-Indian, Victoria Jones (Gardner) who is in conflict over her true identity, British or Indian. After she kills a British officer who attempts to rape her, she escapes into her Indian heritage to assuage her guilt, only to find that she can't.
For all the years she spent as a gorgeous starlet, Gardner in several films proved she was an excellent actress. I'd say this and her performance in Night of the Iguana were her best.
Bhowani Junction was apparently cut and the Stewart Granger narrative added. It's a good movie if not great.
Some of the comments on IMDb are hilarious, obviously from men, advising people to watch the film to see why Sinatra left his wife! There certainly isn't any denying the fact that Ava was one of the most exquisite women in film. To her credit, she turns in a wonderful performance.
Mystery on Mistletoe Lane (2023)
Above average
Kind of a cozy, Christmasy Hallmark.
Victor Webster and Erica Cerra star in Mystery on Mistletoe Lane from 2023. Cerra is Heidi Wicks, a divorced mother of two, who moves from North Carolina to a small town in Massachusetts to take a job as head of the Historical Society.
She meets the old director, David, who helps her get settled in the large house the society has given her to live in.
Heidi soon learns the house was a center of the community at Christmas, which one year stopped suddenly. David's father (Fred Henderson) is reluctant to talk about the house. Meanwhile, Heidi's children find clues in the house and embark on a treasure hunt for wooden reindeer from Santa's sleigh.
Typical Hallmark, with a relaxed atmosphere, likable characters, and a warm story. I would put this a cut above most of the cookie cutter Hallmark films.
Bodyguard (1948)
Lawrence Tierney off the force
I've never been a fan of Lawrence Tierney's. I always thought he gave monotone line readings and wore a hairpiece that I couldn't stop looking at because I wanted to tear it off.
I must say that in "Bodyguard" from 1948, Tierney is more animated and gives a good performance. The film also stars Priscilla Lane in her last film, Philip Reed, June Clayworth, and Elisabeth Risdon.
Here Tierney is a rogue detective named Mike Carter, who, sick of being in trouble, finally quits before his boss, Lt. Borden, fires him. He is immediately approached by Freddie Dysen (Reed), of the Continental Meat Packing Company. Freddie is worried about his aunt Gene (Risdon) and pays Carter $2000 to be her bodyguard. Carter refuses - more than once. While he's at the Dysen home, shots are fired through the window. Carter decides to take the job.
When his old boss, Lt. Borden (Steve Brodie) is murdered, it looks as if Mike has been set up to take the fall. He asks his fiancee Doris (Lane) who works at the police department, to check into some files for him to see if he can trace anything back to the meat packing plant. Both of them become embroiled in a dangerous situation.
For me the fun part of this film occurs when Mike asks Doris to read the files onto records and leave them at a record self-recording store. What he picks up are black vinyl 78s, and he steps into a booth to listen to them. This is how Elvis made his first recording, and I loved seeing it.
Supposedly there is a long version of this film somewhere. There have been suggestions that the scene in the meat packing plant was probably more bloody. It makes sense, as that seemed like a lost opportunity the way it was filmed
Directed by Richard Fleischer, this is a nice entry into the noir canon.
Naked Alibi (1954)
Unimpressive noir
Frankly I found Eddie Muller's intro and trashing of director Jerry Hopper more entertaining than this film. Did not hold my interest.
One problem is I've never been crazy about Sterling Hayden. A fascinating human being but doesn't do anything for me as an actor.
In this film, he's a tough cop who accuses bakery owner Gene Barry of being a cop killer, harassing him mercilessly until Barry leaves his wife and baby for a much needed break.
Hayden, of course, follows him. We then find out that Mr. Home and Hearth is a sleazeball with a girlfriend (Gloria Grahame). When Hayden is rolled by thugs, Gloria takes him in. He recovers, but he believes Barry is a cop killer and isn't leaving without him.
This could have been terrific, but I have to agree with Eddie, it's badly directed and after awhile you just don't care.
Der Himmel über Berlin (1987)
An angel takes human form in Cold War Berlin
What a beautiful, poetic, atmospheric film.
Wim Wenders' Wings of Desire takes place in Berlin before the wall falls. Two angels, Damiel and Cassiel (Bruno Ganz and Otto Sander) observe the population from above and, without interacting, give hope to the troubled.
Damiel longs to take human form, and when he falls in love with trapeze artist Marion (Solveig Dommartin) his resolve is strengthened. He is encouraged by no less than Peter Falk, in Berlin to make a film, who can feel his presence.
It's hard to imagine that Wenders never saw the beautiful Christmas film, The Bishop's Wife. Damiel's monologue to Cassie's is so similar in tone to Dudley's, as he pleads with Julia to free him from a world where he is neither warm nor cold.
Wings of Desire is such an ethereal experience - and its power is difficult to describe.
Code Two (1953)
B movie about cops in LA
These B programmers were used by MGM to train the starlets, men as well as women. All of the people in this film went on to varying careers, but none achieved stardom at MGM.
Keenan Wynn is the only one who was actually an MGM star because his contract was renewed after Louis B. Mayer made his wife divorce him and marry Van Johnson. True story.
Code Two concerns three police trainees - Ralph Meeker, Robert Horton, and Jeff Richards. After becoming officers, they want to join the motorcycle squad. Medical people I know refer to motorcycles as donor cycles.
Meeker plays the hotshot, Horton the family man, and Richard's a single guy involved with Horton's sister-in- law (Elaine Stewart). Other up and comings in the film were Chuck Connors and William Campbell.
The beginning of the film sets it up in the documentary style used a great deal then. The movie itself isn't much, showing their training, their work as patrolman, and finally their work on the motorcycle squad. All the action happens at the end as the men go after cattle rustlers.
I had huge crushes on Horton and Richards growing up. Horton went into television and theater; Richards retired at 36 and became a carpenter. Meeker, who replaced Brando in Streetcar on Broadway, continued in tv and films, as did Chuck Connors and William Campbell. Campbell was married to JFK girlfriend Judith Exner.
Beautiful Elaine Stewart ultimately retired but later returned as a game show host. Sally Forrest moved to New York with her husband and worked in theater.
Barefoot in the Park (1967)
When they were REAL young
A delightful comedy starring two young, up and coming actors, Robert Redford and Jane Fonda, who would go on to make other films together during long careers.
Paul Bratter and Corrie Banks Bratter are newlyweds, and after a honeymoon at the Plaza, move into a tiny New York apartment in a five story walk up, actually six if you count the stoop outside the apartment. The bedroom is so small they have to turn in unison - "we're sleeping left to right tonight."
When Corrie's mother (Mildred Natwick) visits, Corrie introduces her to their eccentric neighbor Victor Velasco (Charles Boyer). Will it be love or will her conservative mother run screaming from the room?
Cute comedy with lively performances.
Tonight or Never (1931)
Gloria Swanson in an early talkie
In Sunset Boulevard, Gloria Swanson said, we had faces then.
Well she sure did! Those eyes! Her expressions! In Tonight or Never, she plays an opera diva lacking the one thing that will make her a superstar - feelings! Since it's 1931 you can interpret that as sexual fulfillment.
As a former opera singer myself, I got a kick out of the opening. It takes place in Venice, and we get to hear a soprano with a voice like Minnie Mouse sing the end of Tosca and go flat on the high note. I am forever stunned at what film considered a Tosca voice. I mean, Jeannette McDonald was another one.
Our diva here, Nella Vago, falls for Melvyn Douglas, in his debut, who is living with a former opera diva, supposedly his "aunt."
The film is talky, with lots of innuendo and a seduction scene that can only be described as old-fashioned. Which since it's 1931, it was.
Swanson's wardrobe is to die for. Douglas is very elegant.
We don't have much of the young Gloria in talkies. And, since it's Douglas' debut, and Boris Karloff isn't playing a monster, I recommend it.
Beyond Tomorrow (1940)
A young couple gets help from beyond
Who are the cynics giving middling scores to this lovely film?
Some background: The story is written by Mildred Cram, who wrote An Affair to Remember, Susan Lennox, and many others. Her book, Forever, about reincarnation, was Tyrone Power's favorite book. Every new woman in his life was given it to read as a potential costar. But he never made the film.
Okay - Cram definitely believed in the spirit world and that the soul continues after death.
In this story, three elderly engineers (Charles Winninger, C, Aubrey Smith, and Harry Carey) live and have a business together. One Christmas night, they throw three wallets with $10 each out the window, each containing a business card, to see if anyone will come to their door.
Two arrive, a young woman, Jean (Jean Parker) working for a children's foundation, and an aspiring singer, James (Richard Carlson). They all become fast friends, including the men's Russian housekeeper and butler (Maria Ouspenskaya and Alex Melesh).
Tragedy strikes, and the three men are killed in a plane crash. Before being called to the other side, they remain in ghostly form and attempt to help the relationship of Jean and James., which runs into a problem (Helen Vinson).
Richard Carlson has a beautiful singing voice and is so handsome and appealing - he certainly had a good career, though maybe too lightweight for a film leading man. Jean Parker is lovely. They made a darling couple.
A beautiful, satisfying Christmas film that has introduced me to the drink Tom & Jerry - a definite for me this holiday season.
As for the movie, enjoy a little sentiment and a human story. We can all use it.
Going Places (1938)
Oh What a Horse Was Charley
Forget the silly plot - watch this for the wonderful music, including Jeepers Creepers, and the incredible Mutiny in the Nursery featuring Louis Armstrong (who has a major acting role), Maxine Sullivan, and the Dandridge Sisters (including a teenaged Dorothy).
One wonders if the thugs, Allen Jenkins and Harold Huber, singing Oh What a Horse was Charley Til He Got a Charley Horse, was any kind of inspiration for the singing thugs in Kiss Me, Kate.
The plot - well, as an advertising stunt, Dick Powell impersonates a famous horseman, Peter Randall, falls in love with Anita Louise, and ends up jockeying Jeepers Creepers who only responds to the song. The race has to be seen to be believed. And even then, you won't believe it.
See it for the musical numbers.
All That Heaven Allows (1955)
Because their love...is all that heaven allows!
Rock Hudson and Jane Wyman star in All that Heaven Allows from 1955.
Wyman plays Cary, a recent widow with two adult children (Gloria Talbot, William Reynolds) who meets an arborist, Ron (Hudson), somewhat younger than she, and not of her social class.
There is an immediate attraction, but Cary faces disapproval from her family and friends.
I've always liked Rock Hudson but he never really floated my boat. The character he plays in this is so gentle, sweet, easygoing, devoid of artifice, and so darned good looking, Wyman would have had to have been comatose not to flip out over him.
This is such a lovely film, a real Douglas Sirk special with Wyman and Hudson giving heartfelt performances.
Good film about loneliness and what is really important in life.
Psycho (1960)
How to keep a generation of women out of the shower
Alfred Hitchcock is my favorite director, though I prefer his big budget films of the '40s and '50s, and his emphasis on suspense rather than horror.
That being said, his 1960 Psycho is certainly a fascinating film. The problem with it is simple: I can't remember my initial reaction to all the twists because I've seen it too many times. Oh, to go back and remember my terror during the shower scene or the big reveal at the end.
But I can't. Psycho starts out as a film about an unhappy woman who steals $40,000 from her boss and leaves town.
During a storm, she stops at the Bates Motel. Well, there are mistakes and then there are mistakes. Stealing the money was a mistake. Then there's entering the Bates Motel. Another level of mistake.
The film quickly becomes about something else. Hitchcock kills off what we assume is his star and goes in a different direction. Only Hitchcock.
As Norman Bates, Tony Perkins is a cute and underplayed Norman. We see the moment Norman's true colors begin to emerge. We want to say, okay, the rain stopped, you've eaten, you've met this crazy, you've heard his abusive mother. Time to go!
A master storyteller weaves a tale about a boy and his best friend- his mother.
Cast Away (2000)
A tour de force
A tour de force by Tom Hanks.
Hanks plays an international manager for Fed Ex, Chuck Nolan, who is on a plane that crashes at sea.
As the only survivor, he is marooned on an island. With no help coming, he has to learn to survive. Turns out it's a four year struggle.
This is an amazing movie - the idea of the isolation, the foraging for food, looking for items that can help him live and/or escape, the feeling of hopelessness - all very intense. Chuck is a man in love, a great job, and now his only focus is survival.
Hanks is superb!
This is a wonderful story of the human spirit, and frankly, it's something we need to remind ourselves of from time to time. We're pretty indomitable.
Charade (1963)
Stanley Donen in a Hitchcock mood
One of my all-time favorite films. The Hitchcock movie Hitchcock didn't make.
Regina Lampert (Audrey Hepburn) is widowed and finds out that her husband Charles 1) was thrown off of a train in his pajamas; 2) had many passports under different names; 3) cleaned out their home before he died; and 4) has a quarter of a million dollars somewhere, wanted by three goons. And they think she has it. She enlists the help of a man (Cary Grant) who over the course of the film has several names. Friend or foe?
Beautifully cast, stylish direction by Stanley Donen, with a Parisian background, beautiful clothes by Givenchy, and a script full of humor and mystery, Charade has it all.
Crossing Delancey (1988)
delightful film
A young Jewish woman is pressured to find true love in Crossing Delaney from 1988, starring Amy Irving, Peter Riegert, Sylvia Miles, and Rosemary Harris.
Irving is Isabelle Grossman, a New Yorker involved with a small bookstore, where she has intellectual friends and rubs elbows with authors. She enjoys her life. However, her Jewish grandmother involves her with a yenta. The result is pickle maker Sam Posner (Riegert).
The entire cast is great - Sylvia Miles is hilarious as the matchmaker in a very showy role.
Loved the whole New York City atmosphere and the realistic situations -- being enamored of a jerk and thinking a pickle maker isn't quite what you had in mind.
Short Cut to Hell (1957)
Routine but Cagney directed
This is the only film directed by James Cagney.
In Short Cut to Hell, Robert Ivers plays a hit man paid off with counterfeit money, bringing police to his door. He hops a train to Los Angeles and winds up kidnapping a young woman (Georgian Johnson) who is the girlfriend of a detective (William Bishop).
Very routine and I struggled to stay involved.
Growing up I loved the TV series It's a Great Life which starred Bishop. I suppose if I saw it now I would find it silly, who knows. Sadly he died young.
I had never seen Georgann Johnson as a young and pretty actress. She was a wonderfully talented character actress.
The Walls Came Tumbling Down (1946)
Static noir
Real talky.
When a priest is found hanged, his good friend, a journalist (Lee Bowman) knows it isn't suicide and sets out to learn the truth.
It all has to do with two Bibles that the priest had in his possession, and everyone wants them. George McCready plays a missionary in search of them, and you know, because it's George McCready, that he's not a missionary and he's up to no good. A youngish Edgar Buchanan is also after them, as well as an attractive young woman (Marguerite Chapman).
The Bibles give the whereabouts of da Vinci painting to the fall of the walls of Jericho.
For as much talking as went on, I have to say the denouement was actually quite poignant.
This film for some reason is compared by some reviewers to the Maltese Falcon and Lee Bowman to a Cagney or Bogart. Lee Bowman had a very monotonous voice and as far as I'm concerned, not a lot of presence. He was, however, a pleasant actor.
Just an OK noir.
A little trivia: back in the good old days when there were collectors magazines, Marguerite Chapman was selling her own private Memorabilia collection.
Until I Kill You (2024)
Horrific story of abuse
Anna Maxwell Martin stars as real-life abuse victim Delia Balmer in Until I Kill You, a four part miniseries. Her abuser, Sweeney, is played by Endeavour star Shaun Evans.
Balmer is a bizarre woman, not very likable, who takes up with Sweeney, only to be abused by him until he nearly kills her. Her anger at the police for not helping her, her physical pain, her fear, her bitterness, her PTSD cause her to lash out at everyone. She feels as if she is already dead, and when the police ask for her help putting Sweeney away, she initially refuses. She relents, but then, faced with more injustice, she's sorry.
In spite of Balmer being such a difficult character, your sympathies are with her and the adjudication of Sweeney's various cases.
Very compelling story and a great lesson to always be vigilant and not too trusting. Such sad reminders of how we're forced to live in the world.
China (1943)
Why all the hate
Why the hate over this film? I have to disagree. Called a quickie B movie, getting as much work out of Alan Ladd as the studio could pre-stardom(?) - the site reviews go to town.
I wasn't aware that Ladd hadn't hit stardom when this film was made - that's baloney. A B movie? With that incredible opening scene and those effects? Starring Ladd, Bendix, and Loretta Young?
This is a propaganda film. Ladd plays an opportunist who sells oil to the Japanese. One night his truck is basically taken over by Young, who is a teacher, desperate to get her female students to safety.
Ladd of course winds up joining the fight after tragedy strikes. Some very exciting and sad scenes.
And yes, the Japanese are portrayed as monsters, as they are any time it is shown what they did to the Chinese people.
Young, Ladd, Bendix, Philip Ahn, and Marianne Quon give excellent performances as do the rest of the cast.
You may notice that Bendix and Ladd often worked together in films. They were best friends and neighbors.
Always interesting to see how Ladd's height is handled. Don't believe reports that he was 5'6" or 5'7". His nickname was Tiny when the average American male's height was 5'8".
Very good film, very absorbing.
Seven Sinners (1940)
Marlene makes the movie
Marlene Dietrich is drop-dead gorgeous as Bijou, an entertainer who keeps getting deported and depends on the kindness of men to fight over her, fight for her, and help her.
Now on the island of Boni Komba, Dietrich sings at the Seven Sinmers Cafe.
One of her suitors is tall, handsome John Wayne, just hitting it big after Stagecoach: another is very funny sailor Broderick Crawford, a doctor, Albert Dekker, Mischa Auer, and Oscar Homolka.
Delicately pretty Anna Lee - years later the elderly Lila Quartermaine on General Hospital - plays the daughter of the governor of the island.
Dietrich is at her most alluring in dynamite clothes and gowns, and her performances are delightful. She and Wayne have good chemistry.
Director Tay Garnett and crack photographer Rudy Mate capture the tropical atmosphere very well.
Entertaining.
Something Always Happens (1934)
Delightful
Ian Hunter stars in this British quota quickie, Something Always Happens from 1934, directed by none other than Michael Powell.
Hunter is Peter Middleton, a man down on his luck. He meets a street urchin (John Singer), and together they finagle room and board with a kindly landlady (Muriel George).
Looking to procure a foreign car for a millionaire, he meets a young woman, Cynthia (Nancy O'Neil) whom he assumes is also broke. In fact, her father owns a fleet of gas stations. When she learns he needs a job, she sends Peter to him without revealing her identity.
Cynthia's rather, Hatch, throws him out, but Peter gets the man's rival to agree to his money-making idea. Soon he's on top. He and Hatch are now rivals.
Very charming and entertaining British film.
F.B.I. Girl (1951)
A politician fears a crime will keep him from becoming elected
You want to talk about dated - the sight of people going through paper files of people's fingerprints - wow.
Something else dated - there was a time when someone planning to run for governor was concerned about an old murder he committed under another name being discovered when his fingerprints are run. I guess back then if you had a record, it would be difficult to be elected.
In order to keep his secret, the card with the fingerprints has to be stolen. Pressure is brought to bear on a man to make his sister steal the card.
Several murders follow.
Done in the semidocumentary style of the day, the film stars Cesar Romero, George Brent, Audrey Totter, and Raymond Burr.
One thing I noticed immediately- one of the members of a particularly awful TV act was none other than Hollywood Squares host Peter Marshall.
Cesar, Audrey, and George had seen better days as this was a strictly B movie. Raymond Burr was looking toward a bright future in television.