reviewId int64 363k 588k | userId int64 33.9k 15.9M | itemId int64 1 1.42M | rating float64 1 10 | title stringlengths 1 10.9k ⌀ | content stringlengths 81 11.6k ⌀ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
445,612 | 1,048,771 | 40,669 | 5 | Thrift shop version of B'way musical drops most of the songs . . . | When Universal-International decided to film ONE TOUCH OF VENUS from the Broadway musical by Kurt Weill they dropped most of the songs , gave it the B & W treatment instead of Technicolor , cast AVA GARDNER in the title role ( a non-singer dubbed by Eileen Wilson ) , and gave boyish ROBERT WALKER , then at the height o... |
446,620 | 1,048,771 | 44,417 | 5 | Artificial , claustrophobic thriller fails to do the job . . . | With a promising premise for starters , BEWARE , MY LOVELY offers nothing more than a modest amount of suspense but fails to deliver the goods , despite good performances from IDA LUPINO and ROBERT RYAN . The trouble is the script that confines the story to a single setting which soon becomes tedious to view as none of... |
445,338 | 1,048,771 | 117,002 | 5 | Low-key tale with Jekyll-Hyde as background material . . . | Here's a film that , given it has a Jekyll-Hyde background for the main story told from the viewpoint of a maid in his employ , and played with modesty and restraint by JULIA ROBERTS , should have been much more captivating than it is . The performances are not at fault , nor is the very accurate looking Victorian look... |
446,096 | 1,048,771 | 29,158 | 5 | Tepid , pointless remake is no improvement on the original . . . | TCM's " Lost and Found " series of RKO films continues with yet another remake of RAFTER ROMANCE ( with Ginger Rogers and Norman Foster ) , the story of two people who never meet although they're roommates sharing the same flat . They never meet because they're on different work shifts . It's a story that worked its ch... |
446,564 | 1,048,771 | 21,381 | 5 | Cagney's debut in forgettable potboiler . . . | I could tell from the trailer for SINNERS ' HOLIDAY that this is a film I could very well do without viewing - - but I tuned in to see Cagney in his debut performance . This is a museum piece , creaky in plot and development with abysmal stage dialogue and unnatural performances from GRANT WITHERS and EVELYN KNAPP , bo... |
445,342 | 1,048,771 | 36,811 | 5 | Too many distracting process shots with actors in front of filmed backgrounds . . . | RKO must have had a very small budget to work with when they made " The Falcon in Mexico " , using stock footage of actual location photography but process photography for all of the studio shots with actors in front of the screened location backgrounds . It becomes such a distraction that there's a tendency not to fol... |
446,629 | 1,048,771 | 153,556 | 5 | Painfully corny MGM short spotlights George Murphy and Virginia Grey . . . | Every cliché imaginable is present in this little 21-minute short from MGM , circa 1936 , featuring GEORGE MURPHY and VIRGINIA GREY as a pair of business-like office workers who find romance through the intervention of a janitor ( CHRISTIAN RUB ) who's been taking psychology courses at night . Rub is a familiar face as... |
445,343 | 1,048,771 | 36,809 | 5 | At least a change of scenery for the debonair Falcon . . . | Not too much can be said for THE FALCON OUT WEST except that it moves swiftly to its conclusion after establishing a few red herrings that make the revelation of the real murderer a somewhat mild surprise . TOM CONWAY plays the suave detective who happens to be present when LYLE TALBOT ( as a wealthy Texan ) suddenly i... |
446,849 | 1,048,771 | 52,077 | 5 | The best of the worst . . . so bad you have to see it to believe it . . . | PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE is strictly amateur night at the movies . Taken as that , you can sit back and enjoy the inept acting , direction and staging of every scene - - a film obviously filmed on a shoestring budget and directed by the infamously untalented Ed Wood , Jr . If you saw ED WOOD with Johnny Depp , you'll ha... |
446,751 | 1,048,771 | 36,776 | 5 | As daffy as any Marx Brothers comedy - - a farce about crowded Washington , D . C . in wartime . . . | I was so busy watching ANN SHERIDAN looking so great that I had a hard time keeping track of the zany plot . She really had a flair for comedy , even this kind of absurd farce , that it's a shame she was never given better scripts . JANE WYMAN plays the sort of dumb blonde that made Marilyn famous ( only she's a brunet... |
446,547 | 1,048,771 | 110,588 | 5 | Terrible bio but good period flavor . . . | As a bio of the witty writer Dorothy Parker , this film is a dud . We have JENNIFER JASON LEIGH , correctly attired in period costume and hairdo , but rattling about in scenes of overlapping dialog and barely discernible comments being muttered by her under her breath . A striking performance ? I don't think so . Leigh... |
447,930 | 1,048,771 | 44,486 | 5 | Depressing story with Olivier landing in the gutter . . . | CARRIE has the distinction of being one of William Wyler's most depressing films . It's peopled by such unlikeable , unappealing characters that by the time it's over and LAURENCE OLIVIER lands in a flophouse while JENNIFER JONES has achieved success , it has a deja vu feeling that you've seen this tale before in a lit... |
446,135 | 1,048,771 | 59,678 | 5 | Semi-effective sci-fi story from Alistair MacLean novel . . . ahead of its time . . . | The biggest drawback of THE Satan BUG is the slow pace at which director John Sturges has chosen to tell this tale of laboratory espionage and a mad scientist . Fortunately for viewers , the pace quickens in the latter portion of the story and overall the results are pretty satisfying . RICHARD BASEHART is the mad scie... |
445,853 | 1,048,771 | 350,503 | 5 | Down South Americ way . . . the old and new in Peru . . . | ADVENTURES IN SOUTH America is a cursory look at Peru of ' 46 , showing the contrast between the Old Peru and primitive farmers and thatched huts and the new modern cities like Lima . It starts with a look at the old , including a mixture of old and new costumes that can be seen in the market in La Paz . Colorful costu... |
447,678 | 1,048,771 | 201,048 | 5 | Cesar Romero is a priest helping a runaway boy and his dog in Mexico . . . | TCM claims that the film was never released because the producer couldn't find a distributor for it in 1963 , and that it languished in film vaults for years , unseen and on the shelf . Well , as it turns out , THE RUNAWAY isn't anything special . In fact it's a rather dreary story of a runaway boy ( ROGER MOBLEY ) and... |
447,747 | 1,048,771 | 117,107 | 5 | Style without substance . . . | MULHOLLAND FALLS is a wannabe version of films like CHINATOWN and L . A . CONFIDENTIAL , but neither the script nor the direction has anything approaching either one . NICK NOLTE is a tough police officer leading a squad of men who make their own rules when rounding up the usual suspects . He becomes involved in the my... |
446,623 | 1,048,771 | 40,627 | 5 | Another in the " Rusty " series with an obvious message . . . | From the outset , the viewer has to be aware that this is a story about the boy who cried Wolf once too often , so that no one believed him when the wolf actually attacked . It's a message wrapped up tidily in a harmless little programmer from Columbia , MY DOG RUSTY , again starring TED DONALDSON as the boy who seems ... |
447,211 | 1,048,771 | 44,543 | 5 | Minor search drama from MGM to give Keel non-singing role . . . | HOWARD KEEL was MGM's robust baritone who would still be making big musicals for his home studio - - but DESPERATE SEARCH was designed to keep the actor busy when there were no musical assignments ready for him . It's strictly a programmer for the bottom half of a double bill , running only one hour and thirteen minute... |
445,198 | 1,048,771 | 86,491 | 5 | The TV shows were better . . . | After the opening prologue with DAN AKYROYD and ALBERT BROOKS , as bored drivers on a lonely country highway who like to play pranks , TWILIGHT ZONE : THE MOVIE offers four stories , supposedly in the vein of stories that Rod Serling wrote for the famous TV series . Not until the final segment , NIGHTMARE AT 20 , 000 F... |
447,556 | 1,048,771 | 29,056 | 5 | Possible Spoiler AheadRichard Dix and Fay Wray as film players in amusing Hollywood story . . . | RICHARD DIX plays a has-been western movie star who's romantically involved with FAY WRAY , whose stardom is on the rise , another variation on the " A Star Is Born " sort of theme . What makes this one interesting are all the behind-the-scenes looks at movies in the making with directors and script girls and lighting ... |
445,843 | 1,048,771 | 36,705 | 5 | Charlie Chan and black magic . . . routine entry . . . | The only ingredient of BLACK MAGIC that is any different from the other Chan films is the amount of time given to MANTAN MORELAND as the frightened wide-eyed black man who serves as comedy relief . A few of the gags are amusing enough , but it's a one joke routine that wears thin after the first half-hour . SIDNEY TOLE... |
446,146 | 1,048,771 | 277,866 | 5 | One gag does not make a whole film . . . | Here's a Max Linder short that runs too long when it's based on a single incident at the beach . He attempts to take a photo of a woman in a bathing suit ( and she's no beauty ) , waiting while she swims around like she thinks she's an early embodiment of Esther Williams . He's waiting for her to emerge so he can snap ... |
445,517 | 1,048,771 | 29,047 | 5 | Except for the fire - - just awful ! ! | I love ALICE FAYE , TYRONE POWER and DON AMECHE when they have a good script , great tunes and wonderful direction - - as in ALEXANDER'S RAGTIME BAND . But IN OLD CHICAGO is insufferable in terms of story , pacing , acting and any sense of reality until the O'Leary cow knocks over that lantern . Then we're treated to o... |
446,941 | 1,048,771 | 143,827 | 5 | Barely entertaining short benefits from Dean Stockwell's performance . . . | Surely , a better story could have evolved around a boy required to write an essay on " A Very Important Person " and choosing to name his father as recipient of the honor . In this lackluster short , the boy suddenly decides that his hard working father ( a traffic cop ) is worthy of being the subject of his prize-win... |
447,271 | 1,048,771 | 36,719 | 5 | Hedy Lamarr is a beautiful but boring enigma as a woman of mystery . . . | All the ingredients that made CASABLANCA such a mega-hit are present in THE CONSPIRATORS , but not one of the ingredients is able to put the film over the top as a story of intrigue , espionage and romance . What's surprising is that the film fails to sustain interest despite a great supporting cast that includes PETER... |
447,432 | 1,048,771 | 40,513 | 5 | Weak musical comedy has a few compensations but not enough . . . | The lavish production values and a few good comic performances from J . CARROL NAISH , MILDRED NATWICK and BILLY GILBERT are not enough to save THE KISSING BANDIT from a witless script . It's an MGM musical in which there are only two compensations : KATHRYN GRAYSON effectively warbling " Love Is Where You Find It " an... |
446,145 | 1,048,771 | 277,883 | 5 | Overdone slapstick made me yawn . . . | This is a Max Linder short , a domestic comedy about a man trying to fend for himself when his wife returns to her mother . It's the " Mr . Mom " of silent films . It's the sort of thing Chaplin and Keaton would do later on with better results . The film is divided into segments titled : Household Troubles , Washing Di... |
447,431 | 1,048,771 | 36,731 | 5 | Dull , badly acted werewolf tale from Columbia is a real yawner . . . | CRY OF THE WEREWOLF is on the level of an Ed Wood film , a surprisingly bad little programmer from Columbia with NINA FOCH heading the cast . Her transition from human to werewolf is so poorly staged with shadows that it's laughable . The script is dull , full of exposition for the first half-hour , and populated by so... |
446,560 | 1,048,771 | 36,730 | 5 | It's a wonder Jane Wyman ever became a star at Warner Bros . . . | CRIME BY NIGHT is a neat little programmer that gives JEROME COWAN one of his few leading roles in films . He was usually the man who supported the big Warner stars in films ranging from MR . SKEFFINGTON to THE MALTESE FALCON , always a reliable character actor . For an up-and-coming contract star , JANE WYMAN was give... |
447,778 | 1,048,771 | 29,010 | 5 | So-so songs , lame script , lavish production and some good Busby Berkeley touches . . . | This is really a lemon of a musical from Warner Bros . with DICK POWELL as a boy singer who wins a contest that sends the naive guy to Hollywood where he ends up escorting a movie star imposter ( ROSEMARY LANE ) to a Hollywood premiere . Seems Rosemary is impersonating a temperamental diva ( LOLA LANE ) , who overacts ... |
447,555 | 1,048,771 | 29,011 | 5 | Stilted acting , nothing original about the plot in this B-film western . . . | Columbia seemed intent on making B-films about westerns being shot in Hollywood and the behind-the-scenes glimpses throughout the story that are supposed to be a point of interest . Trouble is the script offers nothing in the way of real entertainment . BUCK JONES is a cowboy doubling for big western star GRANT WITHERS... |
447,013 | 1,048,771 | 24,675 | 5 | Talky melodrama of love triangle during World War I . . . | Despite some very glossy MGM B & W photography , as shown in the good print of this film aired by TCM , and some attractive sets and very Adrian-created costumes for JOAN CRAWFORD , TODAY WE LIVE is a film as generic as its title . It's hard to distinguish from any other triangle romance except that the war background ... |
447,356 | 1,048,771 | 101,747 | 5 | Slight comedy has a certain Gallic charm . . . | But a film has to have a story to keep it going and this one is so slight , it's almost invisible . It depends heavily on the charm of the two leading players , STEPHANE FREISS and PATSY KENST . They do well enough to keep the chemistry flowing , although some of Kenst's stand-up comic routines are for the birds . Frei... |
447,482 | 1,048,771 | 56,016 | 5 | Blue-eyed Chuck plays Geronimo with a very straight face . . . | There's really nothing to distinguish GERONIMO from any standard Hollywood western about outlaws , except that this time it's a lone outlaw against the U . S . cavalry at a time when Indian treaties were being broken and the Indians wanted to fight over territorial rights . Nothing complex here , just a fictionalized a... |
446,859 | 1,048,771 | 430,768 | 5 | An abstract bore . . . a tiresome jumble of fragmented scenes . . . | Instead of making a fascinating film about the development of a " crush " in adolescence , the filmmaker has managed to create a hollow story that goes nowhere , develops none of the characters , and is apparently attempting to be poetic and arty about the subject of sex involving a boy's obsessive love for a fellow cl... |
445,691 | 1,048,771 | 21,317 | 5 | Dreadfully dated corny nonsense about " Roseland " - - ten cents a dance . . . | Styles in singing , clothing , costuming , and what constitutes good looks have changed so drastically since 1930 that you have to be a nostalgia buff to appreciate the content of ROSELAND , a Warner Bros . " Film Brevity " to showcase RUTH ETTING . Her hair and make-up would give any respectful make-up artist the chil... |
445,275 | 1,048,771 | 28,958 | 5 | Another Lloyd C . Douglas medical soaper . . . uninspired old-fashioned corn . . . | Warner Bros . occasionally gave ERROL FLYNN a break away from his usual swashbuckling roles but should have paid more attention to finding a better source material . The Lloyd C . Douglas novel is an uneven mixture of religion , psychiatry and sudsy melodramatics , never quite sure what the net results ought to be . Fl... |
447,640 | 1,048,771 | 28,953 | 5 | Garrick was supposed to be " a great actor " , not " a great ham " . . . | I anticipated getting a lot of enjoyment from THE GREAT GARRICK based on previously read reviews and the great cast involved . I was sorely disappointed . James Whale may have been a master at directing horror films but stylized comedy was not his forte . Worst offender of all is Brian Aherne ( hamming it up considerab... |
445,896 | 1,048,771 | 52,168 | 5 | Anita Ekberg out of her depth as a femme fatale . . . | ANITA EKBERG almost sleepwalks through her role of a disturbed woman who somehow finds herself in the midst of murder and mayhem in SCREAMING MIMI ( ' 58 ) , the title referring to a statue that is some sort of fetish that turns up at every killing . Miss Ekberg is also a statue here , towering above most of the cast e... |
446,589 | 1,048,771 | 308,383 | 5 | An odd way to tell a story about racial prejudice . . . | THE HUMAN STAIN is a handsomely produced independent film that strives hard to be a serious study of the effect racial prejudice has on an educated college professor ( ANTHONY HOPKINS ) who takes early retirement when he is accused of using the word " spooks " to cover two of his students who have never showed up for c... |
447,707 | 1,048,771 | 24,633 | 5 | Early talkie is adult in story but flawed in technique . . . | SWEEPINGS is an early sound film directed by John Cromwell and starring LIONEL BARRYMORE as a man who builds an empire for his children , only to see it crumble when they show no interest in inheriting or running the department store business . After a promising start , it begins to sag toward the last half-hour and sh... |
447,223 | 1,048,771 | 44,410 | 5 | Sequel lacks the spark and wit of Clifton Webb . . . | BELLES ON THEIR TOES is another nostalgic look at a past that never was . At least that's the impression you get from watching MYRNA LOY worry about her brood of Gilbreth children after father Clifton Webb has passed on . As usual , Loy is likable enough as the strong-willed mother who has to guide her children through... |
445,973 | 1,048,771 | 44,186 | 5 | A sort of Cain and Abel story out west . . . not compelling enough . . . | VENGEANCE VALLEY has several things going for it - - a story by Luke Short , good photography in scenic Colorado , a nice cast of competent players , and firm direction from Richard Thorpe . Unfortunately , it never reaches any of its potential in telling the story of two brothers , a rancher's adopted son ( BURT LANCA... |
446,092 | 1,048,771 | 86,200 | 5 | The era of good , wholesome fun was definitely over . . . | It's sad to think that RISKY BUSINESS is the film that turned TOM CRUISE into a household name almost overnight - - and simply because everyone under 35 who went to see it recognized their own fantasies being played out by a guy who was the antithesis of Andy Hardy . Well , almost everybody . Not everyone fantasizes ab... |
445,548 | 1,048,771 | 51,773 | 5 | Thin on plot and equally thin on charm . . . | I never could understand why the CARY GRANT / INGRID BERGMAN fans were so crazy about this movie . It's a big disappointment , coming as it does from a play by witty Norman Krasna and directed by none other than Stanley Donen . But , in my opinion , it fails to deliver the goods in more ways than one . First , the stor... |
445,834 | 1,048,771 | 21,149 | 5 | Hollywood's early sound version is strictly for the birds . . . | I'm told that JOHN BARRYMORE was once a great actor . There is little evidence for this claim offered here . His entire performance has the flavor of smokehouse ham all the way , even given to over-the-top acrobatics on the ship's crows nest . He squints his eyes , widens them when angry , snarls all of his dialog in a... |
447,730 | 1,048,771 | 51,744 | 5 | Silly William Castle fright film is as stale as week old bread . . . | Only the kiddies could possibly find anything really scary or original about this obvious and contrived fright film on a cheapie William Castle budget , THE HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL . Despite the fact that it features VINCENT PRICE as an eccentric millionaire who challenges a flock of guests to spend the night in his haun... |
445,727 | 1,048,771 | 51,745 | 5 | A sugary confection . . . too sweet for words . . . | Sorry , but HOUSEBOAT has all the charm of a sugary half-hour sit-com stretched out to feature length . Wholesome and sexy-looking SOPHIA LOREN in real life was a total turn-on for CARY GRANT ( he wanted to marry her ) who probably insisted that she be his co-star in this little romp . But the result is a predictable r... |
447,936 | 1,048,771 | 36,582 | 5 | Twain deserved better than this . . . | A dull biography of Mark Twain is all Warner Bros . managed to do with this lumbering tale of the great author's progression from riverboat captain to editor to author - - all accompanied by some jaunty Max Steiner music that holds the various segments together nicely . But it's still dull stuff . Credit FREDRIC MARCH ... |
445,648 | 1,048,771 | 28,873 | 5 | Jeanette is captivating , but the plot is a yawner . . . | If it wasn't for " Donkey Serenade " , this would have been a total loss as a piece of gaudy MGM entertainment for the masses in the 1930s . JEANETTE MacDONALD gives her all as a sexy spy who tries getting potentially harmful information from French officers , but it's all pretty preposterous and finally much too long ... |
447,010 | 1,048,771 | 40,940 | 5 | Another identity exchange farce . . . directed by Peter Ustinov . . . | In the tradition of films like TURNABOUT and FREAKY Friday , VICE VERSA attaches the theme to a couple of males this time , in a British comedy written and directed by Peter Ustinov that tries too hard to be clever , but succeeds , instead , in being exceedingly foolish . ANTHONY NEWLEY is a Victorian schoolboy who tra... |
447,282 | 1,048,771 | 48,527 | 5 | Joan is Queen of the manor . . . and the suds keep flowing . . . | QUEEN BEE is a handsome showcase for the JOAN CRAWFORD brand of acting . She's the Southern Gothic matriarch of an uneasy household and the other characters are all foils for Joan's dominating Queen Bee . There's the sweetly naive girl from the North ( LUCY MARLOW ) ; Crawford's bitter husband , a scarred BARRY SULLIVA... |
447,380 | 1,048,771 | 52,545 | 6 | Amusing Hope comedy as another cowardly hero out west . . . | The Bob Hope movies I liked best were the ones that were a mixture of mirth and murder ( CAT AND THE CANARY , THE GHOST BREAKERS ) , where he played the cowardly hero who gets the girl in the final reel . His westerns were fun too , films like THE PALEFACE or SON OF PALEFACE . It's good to report that ALIAS JESSE JAMES... |
446,681 | 1,048,771 | 167,404 | 6 | Puzzling , absorbing , good twist as the final touch . . . | To fully accept the premise of THE SIXTH SENSE , you first have to accept BRICE WILLIS as a prominent child psychologist after seeing him in all those DIE HARD films . He goes from an action star to an intense doctor absorbed with a child patient ( HALEY JOEL OSMENT ) who claims he can see the dead . Struggling profess... |
446,672 | 1,048,771 | 112,864 | 6 | Story about terrorists in NYC is timelier than ever since . . . | BRUCE WILLIS and SAMUEL L . JACKSON seem like they're doing a buddy flick rigged to simulate what Mel Gibson did with his LETHAL WEAPON films . There's lots of humor , excitement , explosions , daring escapes and leaps from high places as they tear around New York City trying to prevent terrorist ( JEREMY LYONS ) from ... |
447,539 | 1,048,771 | 845,686 | 6 | Another interesting episode full of plot twists and turns . . . | Far from disappointing is this well scripted episode of FOYLE'S WAR : CASUALTIES OF WAR , in which Foyle is caught up in a visit from a young woman ( his niece ) whom he hasn't seen in ten years and her young son who refuses to talk after a bombing at his school kills many of his classmates and teachers . MICHAEL KITCH... |
445,459 | 1,048,771 | 213,655 | 6 | Rare birds preen for the cameras in this Pete Smith Specialty Short . . . | I suppose bird watchers and members of the Audubon Society will find this short much more fascinating that I did , but it comes across as a rather cut and dry documentary on our fine feathered friends , narrated by Pete Smith . On display - - and accompanied by a few witty comments about their appearances - - are a ran... |
447,854 | 1,048,771 | 39,073 | 6 | Maisie's helicopter ride is the film's only worthwhile stunt . . . | These MAISIE films were churned out with alarming regularity by MGM , obviously intended to amuse post-war audiences as the second feature on a double bill . They passed the time pleasantly enough , but it's hard to review them by today's standards since much of the material is as dated as can be . Let's just say that ... |
445,978 | 1,048,771 | 43,973 | 6 | Charles McGraw heads cast of neat B-film noir . . . | I'm fast becoming an admirer of CHARLES McGRAW who did some nifty B-films in the ' 40s and ' 50s , usually as a granite jawed anti-hero with murder and mayhem on his mind . He does some of his best work here as a man whose greedy girlfriend leads him astray from his job as an insurance inspector . It's the sort of film... |
448,059 | 1,048,771 | 26,246 | 6 | Low-budget version of the Dostoyevsky novel with Peter Lorre . . . | Josef von Sternberg's touch looms over CRIME AND PUNISHMENT - - the dramatic lighting of shadowy photography , the Dietrich-like close-ups of its female star - - but while he has captured the mood of the story with his photography , the film is flawed in many ways . PETER LORRE's performance is uneven , his actions som... |
447,895 | 1,048,771 | 35,238 | 6 | Sentimental tear-jerker gives Garson and Colman ideal roles . . . | To say that RANDOM HARVEST was a highly popular success when released in 1942 is almost an understatement . It played for ten weeks at the huge Radio City Music Hall , filling it with appreciative fans who couldn't get enough of this sentimental James Hilton romance . Most of its success is due to the charisma of RONAL... |
447,728 | 1,048,771 | 52,583 | 6 | Breezy , very watchable little comedy with attractive cast . . . | This is the film where I first fell under the spell of the quirky heroines SHIRLEY MacLAINE seemed to embody in her early screen roles - - and continued to play long after the charm had worn off . But here she's refreshingly innocent , naive , quirky , good-natured and easy to like . In fact , she has to carry the film... |
446,559 | 1,048,771 | 65,079 | 6 | Robert Blake in top form but the movie is a flawed western . . . | TELL THEM WILLIE BOY IS HERE has top-notch color photography by Conrad Hall , a thinking man's script that is character driven , and good performances all around by a cast that includes ROBERT REDFORD , ROBERT BLAKE , SUSAN CLARK , BARRY SULLIVAN and KATHARINE ROSS . But it's a lumbering tale that takes a good hour bef... |
446,598 | 1,048,771 | 39,067 | 6 | Familiar ingredients but still better than average programmer . . . | Although there's a little too much Southern exposition to set the stage for a present day story , THE UNKNOWN is a better than average programmer in the Columbia studio's " I Love A Mystery " series . Getting to the heart of the story takes up too much time at the start , but once the story starts dealing with the myst... |
445,983 | 1,048,771 | 65,063 | 6 | It's deadpan humor is fun . . . for awhile . . . | Lots of deadpan WOODY ALLEN humor in what amounts to a series of sketches about a paranoid bank robber who fails at everything he attempts in life - - including bank robberies . There's a hilarious moment during the first robbery where the tellers argue over a misspelled word in the note he slips to the teller . And a ... |
445,200 | 1,048,771 | 105,151 | 6 | A clever but shallow satire that manages to hold interest after a brutal death scene . . . | I'm not a Robert Altman fan but THE PLAYER ranks among the best of his crop of overpraised films . At least the performances are first rate without all the overlapping dialog that one had to endure in GOSFORD PARK , but the satire is laid on pretty thick even after the brutal accidental murder scene . TIM ROBBINS plays... |
447,344 | 1,048,771 | 26,264 | 6 | Merle is effective in a weepie from the Golden Age . . . | Handsomely photographed and nicely scored romantic drama from Samuel Goldwyn about a childhood friendship between three people that develops into an intense romantic triangle . MERLE OBERON , FREDRIC MARCH and HERBERT MARSHALL have the pivotal roles as star-crossed lovers during the World War I period . Unfortunately ,... |
445,312 | 1,048,771 | 195,143 | 6 | A nice glimpse of key spots in Massachusetts in 1942 . . . | This is a brisk look at the Colonial side of Massachusetts , including looks at the old homes of Miles Standish , John and Priscilla Alden , a famous Old Red Schoolhouse , the Old Grist Mill , Wayside Inn , Clara Barton's birthplace and a view of some Sandwich glassware . The second half of the short deals mostly with ... |
446,008 | 1,048,771 | 52,602 | 6 | The Mary Roberts Rinehart story is showing its age . . . | THE BAT , while entertaining and funny because of some hokey dialog , was clearly showing its age as a horror / mystery film by the time this remake was made in 1959 . Based on the stage play from the Rinehart novel , it's much less effective than the earlier version called THE BAT WHISPERS with Chester Morris as the d... |
445,368 | 1,048,771 | 382,628 | 6 | Chilly ghost story is ultimately a disappointment . . . | DARK WATER is worth watching mainly for the performance of JENNIFER CONNOLLY as a distraught mother who almost has a nervous breakdown over the mysterious happenings in a run-down apartment she rents on Roosevelt Island in New York City . Indeed , the apartment is so intent on leaking " dark water " with ominous ceilin... |
447,686 | 1,048,771 | 382,625 | 6 | Pulp fiction . . . ordinary thriller given too much attention because of controversial theme . . . | If you approach watching a film like THE DA VINCI CODE as a thriller ( and forget all the mumble jumble about the history of the Roman Catholic Church ) , it works on an elementary level . The background score ( a very busy one ) by Hans Zimmer gives it the required element of suspense even when two characters are mere... |
447,594 | 1,048,771 | 91,306 | 6 | Profanely funny . . . Whoopi at her whoopiest . . . | If only for the dress shredding scene , this has enough laughs to keep the plot spinning as WHOOPI GOLDBERG gets deeper and deeper into deep you know what trying to help some guy in Russia do his spy thing . It's all impossible , shows the technological gap existing between then and now with old computers , and all the... |
446,720 | 1,048,771 | 73,747 | 6 | Quirky and original . . . effective sci-fi mix of comedy and horror . . . | At least KATHARINE ROSS is more effective here than she was in the dreadful THE SWARM ( performance-wise ) , but once again she reminds me of the robot-like performances Jeanne Crain used to give in earlier days with the same kind of model perfect beauty . The same kind of detachment too , although here at least she su... |
447,667 | 1,048,771 | 30,657 | 6 | Her charm was still there but the stories were wearing thin . . . | REBECCA OF SUNNYBROOK FARM owes whatever charm it has to its leading lady ( SHIRLEY TEMPLE was still the number one box-office attraction in America ) and a modest but pleasing supporting cast . However , it's obvious that nobody paid much attention to the original story and what we're left with is a rather threadbare ... |
446,033 | 1,048,771 | 118,571 | 6 | Combat in the sky . . . on Air Force One no less . . . | As action thrillers , go , AIR FORCE ONE has enough of a plot to keep you watching closely as terrorists take over the presidential plane , a sleek beauty of a craft that makes a gleaming set piece for this kind of adventure in the sky . And who is better qualified to take care of things than HARRISON FORD , somewhat l... |
446,585 | 1,048,771 | 30,709 | 6 | Louis Hayward makes an interesting " Saint " . . . | Before George Sanders took over the role , it went to LOUIS HAYWARD for THE SAINT IN NEW YORK . Hayward was an interesting actor who should have had a better career than he did in Hollywood , proving that when he got a chance to play an interesting scoundrel ( " Ladies in Retirement " ) , he was fearless in letting his... |
447,952 | 1,048,771 | 35,308 | 6 | Wartime prison break makes better than average B-film . . . | Thanks to the fast-moving direction of Edward Dmytryk , SEVEN MILES FROM ALCATRAZ makes for a diverting prison break film , although it definitely shows its B-film origins . In fact , the last twenty minutes is strictly cliffhanger stuff that would have made good material for a Saturday afternoon serial . It's got lots... |
445,905 | 1,048,771 | 442,755 | 6 | Mixture of old and new in India . . . | Colorful Bombay offers an intriguing glimpse of the old and new traditions , side by side in India , opening with a shot of the impressive Taj Mahal Hotel , a sprawling complex in the midst of a bustling city . At the lower end of the spectrum , we view the hard workers occupying the lowest end of the caste system , ... |
445,735 | 1,048,771 | 73,766 | 6 | Two ex-vaudevillians re-team for a TV special . . . | I forgot to mention - - two " cranky " ex-vaudevillians to be exact . It's the cranky humorous jibes between WALTER MATTHAU and GEORGE BURNS ( in his Oscar-winning role at 79 ) , that makes the film . The supporting cast does what they can to keep things flowing at a smooth pace , but it's really almost a two-character... |
446,914 | 1,048,771 | 35,320 | 6 | Sheer escapist fluff but fun to watch when Powell dances . . . | ELEANOR POWELL was in top tap-dancing form when she made SHIP AHOY ! with RED SKELTON as her bumbling co-star and BERT LAHR for some added laughs , along with VIRGINIA O'BRIEN . It's a daffy story about a gal asked to transport a magnetic mine aboard a ship to San Juan , Puerto Rico during World War II when Nazi spies ... |
447,657 | 1,048,771 | 91,167 | 6 | Vignettes in search of a plot . . . typical Allen fluff . . . | HANNAH AND HER SISTERS is a series of vignettes about family relationships - - successful in some ways , overly familiar when Woody Allen gets into his hypochondriac spin . Handsome photography of New York City , fashionable interiors and exteriors and a cast of pros , makes it all easy enough to take - - although I wa... |
446,631 | 1,048,771 | 991,162 | 6 | Featurette is concerned mostly about the casting . . . | Don't expect a comprehensive , detailed coverage of THE MAKING OF ' THE QUEEN ' from this short featurette that appears on the DVD of THE QUEEN . Most of it is directed towards the cast and how they interpreted their roles . HELEN MIRREN claims that it was " dangerous to play a living person " and that at first she was... |
446,626 | 1,048,771 | 30,491 | 6 | Bonita Granville stars in the first of the Nancy Drew films . . . | While not quite capturing the essence and old-fashioned charm of the original Nancy Drew novels , Warner Bros . turned out a series of pleasant programmers starring BONITA GRANVILLE as the teen-age sleuth who is a lot smarter at solving crimes than her elders . The Nancy Drew of the original stories came across as a bi... |
447,077 | 1,048,771 | 26,144 | 6 | Eleanor Powell bursts into stardom as a great dancer . . . | Although this is clearly a showcase for the talented dynamo ELEANOR POWELL , MGM's forerunner to the tap-dancing Ann Miller , Broadway MELODY OF 1936 has some painfully clumsy musical moments that are mercifully offset by some brilliant dance routines by Powell . You have to take the good with the bad , and thankfully ... |
446,636 | 1,048,771 | 38,961 | 6 | Devilishly funny take on one of man's worst fears . . . | GEORGE O'HANLON plays " everyman " Joe McDoakes , alarmed by the fact that when he showers he notices he's losing his hair . Right then and there , he decides he has to do something about his predicament and he seeks the help of professionals to correct what he thinks is a fate worse than death . Naturally , nothing re... |
446,619 | 1,048,771 | 43,879 | 6 | Psychological noir provides gritty role for Robert Ryan . . . | ROBERT RYAN has to carry at least forty-five minutes of the first half of ON DANGEROUS GROUND which seems to be establishing the story as a tough crime drama with some interesting looks at the tough as nails cop ( Ryan ) who is accused of not caring about people other than seeing all thugs as human punching bags . When... |
446,802 | 1,048,771 | 56,552 | 6 | Another ghoulish Poe / Corman production handsomely mounted . . . | While TALES OF TERROR is not my favorite of the Roger Corman / Edgar Allen Poe / Vincent Price outings , it's ghoulish fun to watch since the cast includes such horror stalwarts as BASIL RATHBONE and PETER LORRE joining VINCENT PRICE for three handsomely produced tales supposedly based on some Poe tales of terror . The... |
447,376 | 1,048,771 | 47,688 | 6 | Tasteful musical remake of " Four Daughters " . . . | FRANK SINATRA followed up his " From Here To Eternity " triumph by starring opposite DORIS DAY in a musical remake of " Four Daughters " called YOUNG AT HEART . He gets even better song material than Day , including memorable versions of " Young at Heart " and " One for My Baby " , but Day is compensated by a nice dram... |
445,532 | 1,048,771 | 83,564 | 6 | Overblown musical lacks a dazzling score . . . | ANNIE is about the world's most famous comic strip orphan , who finds herself in Miss Hannigan's ( CAROL BURNETT ) Hudson Street orphanage where the gin-soaked headmistress is full of one-liners like " Why any kid would want to be an orphan , I don't know ! " And Carol is just what this musical , directed by John Husto... |
447,039 | 1,048,771 | 35,088 | 6 | Wartime propaganda film exposes the Mr . - Know-It-Alls spreading false rumors . . . | This short subject is typical of the wartime propaganda films warning us against believing all the false rumors spread by the Mr . Blabbermouths in society who want to impress others with their know-it-all attitudes in spreading misinformation . Since we all know people like Mr . Blabbermouth , it's easy to accept the ... |
446,749 | 1,048,771 | 26,164 | 6 | Outdoor adventure with rugged Gable and radiant Loretta Young . . . | Too bad THE CALL OF THE WILD wasn't filmed in color because it looks mighty picturesque in classic B & W cinematography filmed in Washington state . CLARK GABLE , as a gold prospector , and LORETTA YOUNG , as his female interest , provide the right chemistry for the romantic angle of the tale . JACK OAKIE is along to s... |
447,111 | 1,048,771 | 1,404,376 | 6 | Demolitions and natural disasters caught by the candid camera . . . | Some interesting glimpses of natural disasters and demolition projects are revealed in THE CAMERA CAUGHT IT . It starts with the weather , scenes of heavy snowfalls and even heavier rains making life unbearable for humans and animals ; a demolition project with the crowd anticipating the blast ; men trying to " emulate... |
446,923 | 1,048,771 | 35,114 | 6 | Good and bad twins , courtesy of Conrad Veidt . . . | This was a nice little programmer from the ' 40s that played the lower half of double-features . CONRAD VEIDT is interesting ( as always ) as a pair of identical twins , one of whom is a Nazi agent . When the bad brother is killed , the good brother takes his place and has to convince everyone that he is the loyal Nazi... |
448,003 | 1,048,771 | 43,852 | 6 | Ray Milland hits the bottle again in modest drama . . . | RAY MILLAND is a troubled professor who seems to be wallowing in self-pity shortly after the death of his wife and son in a house fire . He begins to scare people with his brusque behavior , both in and out of the classroom . NANCY DAVIS and JOHN HODIAK are sympathetic friends who offer him loyal support - - but nobody... |
446,004 | 1,048,771 | 95,488 | 6 | Ken Russell satisfies a taste for the bizarre and erotic . . . | Leave it to director Ken Russell to find an obscure Bram Stoker novel and take its most exploitive elements and turn it into a bloodfest of snakes , vampires , virgin sacrifices , phallic symbols , Christian symbolism and more . He throws in some comic book slashings along with some sly humor to create a tacky Gothic h... |
446,112 | 1,048,771 | 65,206 | 6 | How does your garden grow ? might have been a better title . . . | Lots of mordant humor and a clever plot twist at the end are sufficient reason for watching WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO AUNT ALICE ? , but when a cast includes GERALDINE PAGE , RUTH GORDON and MILDRED DUNNOCK and promises to be a suspenseful film along the lines of BABY JANE and HUSH . . . HUSH , SWEET CHARLOTTE , you owe it... |
447,836 | 1,048,771 | 38,924 | 6 | Another Pygmalion story about a concert pianist and her cruel guardian . . . | British films were beginning to attract more attention from American audiences by the time THE SEVENTH VEIL appeared on U . S . screens , and audiences took to JAMES MASON as the overly possessive guardian of ANN TODD , even though the character he played had some very unpleasant traits - - such as using his cane on th... |
445,487 | 1,048,771 | 87,924 | 6 | One of the better TV translations of an Agatha Christie novel . . . | JOAN HICKSON was an excellent Jane Marple and this is definitely one of the better TV works of Agatha Christie's A POCKET FULL OF RYE . The clever plotting uses a nursery rhyme ( one of Christie's favorite ways of linking a complex set of clues to a murder ) , and gives a nice assortment of suspicious characters a chan... |
446,704 | 1,048,771 | 233,322 | 6 | Amusing . . . but sugar-coated and only skims the surface . . . | Fans of Bette Davis will surely appreciate watching her talk about the subject dearest to Bette - - herself . As with most actresses , like Katharine Hepburn , for instance , it's a subject that truly fascinates her . But somehow , I get the impression she was less than benevolent toward her co-workers . She's entertai... |
446,956 | 1,048,771 | 21,825 | 6 | Constance Bennett plays a shopgirl who finds an easier way . . . | Pre-code films are always fun to watch although they do seem primitive by today's standards . But as a measure of what Hollywood was able to do despite film censorship that had to downplay the more censorable aspects of the original story , this is pretty risqué for its time . Bennett , of course , was the Joan Crawfor... |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.