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 ⌀ |
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447,216 | 1,048,771 | 29,682 | 6 | Not quite the screwball comedy classic that I remembered . . . | Considering that this was made in 1937 , the special effects are amazingly well done throughout . . . and the fact that CARY GRANT is billed beneath CONSTANCE BENNETT in the credits is a reminder that this was made long before Grant emerged as a superstar . But there's a stale quality to the whole screwball comedy that... |
445,733 | 1,048,771 | 74,806 | 6 | Disturbing , with some dark themes and subtlety in the playing . . . | There's not too much to recommend here , except that JODIE FOSTER was always an interesting actress , even as a young girl , but the story could have been much more gripping and taut with suspense . She never seemed to play the wholesome types , and this is no exception . She's a bright thirteen year-old , living osten... |
446,840 | 1,048,771 | 51,516 | 6 | Whatever Verdon wants . . . she almost gets . . . | As musicals go , DAMN YANKEES was a highly popular Broadway hit because it gave the audience GWEN VERDON's way with a song and dance and Bob Fosse's choreography . It may not have been as filled with hit tunes as some , but " You Gotta Have Heart " , " Whatever Lola Wants , " and " Two Lost Souls " were good enough to ... |
447,825 | 1,048,771 | 20,876 | 6 | Lloyd's misadventures include the amazing building routine . . . | This is one of Lloyd's first talkies and might have played better as a silent , since most of the action revolves around a whole bunch of amusing sight gags . He's a hapless shoe salesman who tells a wealthy girl that he's a tycoon and spends the rest of the film trying to impress her after unable to leave a cruise shi... |
446,803 | 1,048,771 | 55,304 | 6 | Nice Poe follow-up to " House of Usher " . . . Price is terrific . . . | Once again VINCENT PRICE is harboring a dark secret about a torture dungeon , a father who sadistically used it during the Inquisition , and a wife who has died mysteriously . JOHN KERR is a young man from England who comes to Spain to find out what happened to his sister . When the story of the Spanish nobleman's boyh... |
448,078 | 1,048,771 | 362,269 | 6 | Puritan America's sexual awakening through Kinsey . . . | It never occurred to me that watching a film about Dr . Kinsey would be like watching a dry documentary about a fascinating subject . That's the impression one can get from the opening scenes - - but fortunately , the film improves as it goes on . The film is structured as a series of vignettes based on the sort of que... |
445,681 | 1,048,771 | 117,628 | 6 | Edward Burns steals the show . . . nicely directed too . . . | While I can't say there's any real moral compass to the storyline ( with everyone cheating on everyone else ) , if nothing else EDWARD BURNS can consider himself a Long Island Woody Allen - - because the story told in brief vignettes is exactly the sort of tale that Allen likes to spin about ditsy relationships and dys... |
445,599 | 1,048,771 | 813,809 | 6 | Probing for the truth behind the Garland legend . . . | There's a tinge of sadness throughout this thoughtful , probing look at the life of JUDY GARLAND , a part of an " Omnibus " series that was shown on television in 1972 . Foremost among those who talk about the legendary star are two of the people who knew her close up and personal : her daughter , LIZA MINNELLI and dir... |
445,752 | 1,048,771 | 25,251 | 6 | The gangster and the farmer's daughter . . . | ROBERT MONTGOMERY is the injured gangster being sheltered by a farm family with a lovely daughter ( MAUREEN O'SULLIVAN ) who quickly responds to his tough guy charm . MICKEY ROONEY is the ornery little brother continually pestering everybody and declaring " Don't call me Willie ! " Montgomery gradually reforms after hi... |
446,969 | 1,048,771 | 29,588 | 6 | An early Cagney musical away from Warner Bros . . . | JAMES CAGNEY was having contract problems at Warner Bros . when he went out on his own and did this little musical for Grand National , which - - unfortunately - - flopped at the box-office . It's the kind of musical with a Hollywood background that pokes fun at the film colony and its star-making machinery ( a la SING... |
447,407 | 1,048,771 | 45,029 | 6 | Flashbacks get heavy duty in Phone Call from a Stranger . . . | Fairly interesting story of stranded passengers on an airliner recalling incidents from their past as they await connection to another plane . Nicely directed by Jean Negulesco , it's only problem is the uneven pace of the stories which are blended together rather smoothly . Foremost among the passengers are MICHAEL RE... |
445,942 | 1,048,771 | 36,229 | 6 | Fast moving western short subject on the Oklahoma land rush . . . | Using background music from " Santa Fe Trail " and stock footage from other Warner westerns , OKLAHOMA OUTLAWS is a fast-paced yarn about the Oklahoma land rush and the good men vs . bad outlaws that is the theme of just about every western from Hollywood . ROBERT SHAYNE is the good cowboy who ends up becoming sheriff ... |
445,646 | 1,048,771 | 40,107 | 6 | Harmless little musical to watch on a rainy day . . . | Jack Carson and Ann Sothern are such capable professionals that even when they are cast in something like APRIL SHOWERS they are worth watching . Carson rarely got leading roles , except in the " B " film or programmer such as this one and Ann Sotheran was just winding up all of her " Maisie " roles at MGM to do this u... |
446,985 | 1,048,771 | 362,357 | 6 | Eccentric characters and unpredictable plots make it a series worth watching . . . | AMANDA REDMAN is the tough police boss of a squad of discontented officers she has to keep in line in order to solve unsolved murder cases . I've only watched one from this series but intend to watch more because it moves swiftly , has interesting and rather eccentric characters , and the plot took some unpredictable t... |
446,835 | 1,048,771 | 40,104 | 6 | Charming little comedy worth warming up to . . . | JEANNE CRAIN was at the height of her appeal as a demure charmer at Fox , just beginning to be more than a pretty face as far as her acting career was concerned . And here she had two splendid co-stars : WILLIAM HOLDEN as her ex-G . I . hubby and EDMUND GWENN as a little retired professor who has some housing space in ... |
445,300 | 1,048,771 | 456,380 | 6 | Enjoyable and informative intro to " Dodge City " and the ' 39 publicity junket . . . | I've really enjoyed these DVD introductions , especially the wise comments by Bob Thomas , Robert Osborne , Rudy Behlmer and historian Lincoln D . Hurst which really give credit where it's due and make the viewer understand the reputation of films like DODGE CITY in the context of when it was made , in 1939 . At the ti... |
447,585 | 1,048,771 | 1,150,632 | 6 | An interesting behind-the-scenes look at " Sweeney " . . . | Every facet of film-making that went into the filming of SWEENEY TODD : THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET is examined , rather briefly , in this episodic behind-the-scenes look at the Tim Burton / Johnny Depp collaboration for the screen version of the Stephen Sondheim Broadway musical . JOHNNY DEPP refers to it as a " ... |
446,341 | 1,048,771 | 29,581 | 6 | Fast paced comedy / mystery features Torchy Blane . . . | This is an enjoyable little comedy / mystery in the Torchy Blane series that starred GLENDA FARRELL and BARTON MacLAINE on the trail of a killer involved in a nightclub mystery . Farrell is a fast-talking newspaper reporter smitten by her policeman boyfriend MacLaine . The breezy byplay between the reporter gal and her... |
447,357 | 1,048,771 | 45,053 | 6 | Looks like an MGM Technicolor fairy-tale for adults . . . | If production values were all that mattered , this would be considered a vast improvement over the B & W version with Ronald Colman and Madeleine Carroll . MGM has spared no cost in sets and costumes but this is clearly a scene by scene remake that brings nothing new to the story , no added dimension of enjoyment excep... |
447,057 | 1,048,771 | 36,253 | 6 | Eric Blore : " We better get out of here or as the Americans say : ' Let's scram ! ' " | Enjoyable entry in the Lone Wolf series with ERIC BLORE supplying most of the humor with some clever lines and scene stealing tactics from WARREN WILLIAM , again playing the title role . It's a wartime espionage story with something about spies , mysterious laces , the glass on wristwatches and some ' 40s technology th... |
445,399 | 1,048,771 | 1,177,904 | 6 | German expressionism is something Brahm brought to his films . . . | When Fox released their latest DVD of THE UNDYING MONSTER , it included a featurette on director Brahm called : CONCERTOS MACABRE : THE FILMS OF JOHN BRAHM . Brahm migrated from Germany ( during the rise of Nazism ) to England , and then to Hollywood where Darryl F . Zanuck was looking for someone to direct a Gothic ho... |
446,206 | 1,048,771 | 40,101 | 6 | Kathleen Freeman in what is probably her only starring role . . . | I always think of KATHLEEN FREEMAN as Miss Dinsmore , the vocal coach for Jean Hagen in the hilarious SINGIN ' IN THE RAIN . Actually she had numerous TV and film credits to her name for a long period of time beginning in the late ' 40s , but this is her only starring role in a John Nesbitt " Passing Parade " short abo... |
446,091 | 1,048,771 | 209,186 | 6 | Absorbing story from Katherine Anne Porter . . . | I saw NOON WINE when it originally aired in 1966 and haven't seen it since , so my memory of it has dulled over the years . But I do recall that I was not as impressed overall by the bleak story as some of the viewers seem to indicate - - nor was I pleased with the screen version of Katherine Anne Porter's SHIP OF FOOL... |
446,232 | 1,048,771 | 478,846 | 6 | Featured on the 2-disc " Phantom of the Opera " DVD . . . | For fans of the film ( or the stage show ) , this is a very informative and detailed look at the origins of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical with incisive comments from the men who can tell it best : Andrew Lloyd Webber himself , Harold Prince ( on the stage version ) , composer Charles Hart , singer Steve Harley , Came... |
446,922 | 1,048,771 | 29,606 | 6 | Notable mainly for March's great performance but inferior to the Garland remake . . . | Sorry , but I can't get on the bandwagon here of glowing adjectives to describe A STAR IS BORN with mousy Janet Gaynor in the Esther Blodgett role - - a girl swept into big time stardom by a man whose own career is on the descent . FREDRIC MARCH plays the alcoholic Norman Maine ( modeled after someone like John Barrymo... |
445,353 | 1,048,771 | 60,182 | 6 | Heartwarming film for animal lovers . . . | But if you aren't an animal lover , this tale about a lion cub adopted by a game warden ( BILL TRAVERS ) and his wife ( VIRGINIA McKENNA ) might be too hard to digest . For anyone who has ever felt the pain of separation that comes from parting with a beloved pet , the film will win a special place in your heart . Vist... |
446,210 | 1,048,771 | 64,211 | 6 | ( POSSIBLE SPOILERS ) . . . Tale of supernatural is taut , interesting , but ultimately unbelievable . . . | An exploration of the supernatural with only lukewarm success is DAUGHTER OF THE MIND from a novel by Paul Gallico and starring DON MURRAY as a parapsychologist helping RAY MILLAND discover the mystery behind the appearances of his dead daughter . GENE TIERNEY is Milland's worried wife , wheelchair bound and not having... |
447,268 | 1,048,771 | 90,203 | 6 | Never look back . . . sometimes it's wise not to . . . | GERALDINE PAGE had only a couple of years to live after she made THE TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL , so it's fortunate that the Academy honored her with a Best Actress Oscar for her leading role in this film directed by Peter Masterson . A lonely widow determined to visit the scene of her youth , Page boards a bus and soon forms a... |
447,988 | 1,048,771 | 60,397 | 6 | Futuristic sci-fi thriller / fantasy deserves credit for originality . . . | At the time of release , I was crazy about FANTASTIC VOYAGE . Seeing it again , years later , there are lots of reservations but it still deserves a huge amount of credit for the overall originality of the plot wherein a group of scientists are turned into microscopic size in order to be injected into the body of a Cze... |
445,227 | 1,048,771 | 82,495 | 6 | Haddonfield hospital is under attack . . . Michael is back . . . | A very respectable sequel , surprisingly enough , in an age where most sequels fail to capture the spirit of the original . The gore has been made a little more graphic , the scene has shifted to the hospital where Laurie was taken after the attack at her home , and everything moves in proper horror movie form under a ... |
446,808 | 1,048,771 | 44,863 | 6 | Uninspired teaming of Mitchum and Russell has so-so results . . . | Josef Von Sternberg must have been first choice for this assignment since he did do SHANGHAI EXPRESS which did magic for Marlene Dietrich back in the ' 30s and he knows how to take advantage of the exotic atmosphere and shadowy photography . Russell has never looked better . But this is no SHANGHAI EXPRESS - - just a l... |
446,231 | 1,048,771 | 478,872 | 6 | Another feature documentary on the 2-Disc " Phantom of the Opera " DVD . . . | THE MAKING OF ' PHANTOM OF THE OPERA ' is an interesting behind the scenes look at the preparations made to bring the film version of the stage success to the big screen , as the most expensive independent film ever made . The sumptuous sets and costumes are featured and the film's producer , SIMON LEE , describes how ... |
447,564 | 1,048,771 | 82,449 | 6 | Ghostly elements are all here . . . but fails to be totally satisfying . . . | When I first saw GHOST STORY in the ' 80s , I thought it was one of the best stories of its type ever told . Seeing it again tonight on cable , my opinion has changed . Yes , all the elements for a good tale of ghostly doings are in place - - but they never really reach a satisfying enough pattern in the scheme of thin... |
446,348 | 1,048,771 | 60,355 | 6 | Plenty of cavalry vs . Indians shootouts in gritty western . . . | For western fans who enjoy plenty of shootouts against eye-filling western locations , DUEL AT DIABLO fills the bill . It's got several strands of sub-plots going but spends most of its time featuring some action packed shootouts that don't leave much time for character development among the cast . JAMES GARNER is a sc... |
446,719 | 1,048,771 | 74,937 | 6 | Neil Simon's parody of murder mysteries with top cast . . . | With PETER FALK doing a superb turn as Sam Diamond ( a Raymond Chandler type of detective with Humphrey Bogart characteristics ) , and EILEEN BRENNAN as his moll , quick with the humorous sarcasm , this is a clever parody of every murder mystery ever written . In fact , everyone concerned with this Neil Simon parody is... |
446,141 | 1,048,771 | 48,702 | 6 | Juvenile delinquency not as scary in ' 55 short film . . . | Juvenile delinquency in cites across America was becoming a problem among teens in rural and big city towns according to TEENAGERS ON TRIAL , An RKO Pathe Screenliner from 1955 . The delinquency in James Dean's REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE seems to reflect the situations presented here , showing how many teens , in order to f... |
445,479 | 1,048,771 | 25,164 | 6 | Fred and Ginger and all the usual ingredients . . . including Eric Blore . . . | The first time Astaire and Rogers really shared top billing was in this RKO movie , THE GAY Divorcée ( based on a Broadway musical Astaire starred in called " The Gay Divorce " ) . This one is notable for NIGHT AND DAY and THE CONTINENTAL , as well as a show-stopping number performed by a very young BETTY GRABLE and ED... |
445,772 | 1,048,771 | 36,208 | 6 | Screwball comedy has MacMurray and Colbert floundering in mud . . . | Physical comedy of the kind we call screwball is evident throughout NO TIME FOR LOVE where Claudette Colbert and Fred MacMurray play a couple from opposite social circles . She's a magazine photographer , he's a sandhog working in a tunnel beneath the Hudson River . She's attracted to him at first sight but doesn't see... |
446,568 | 1,048,771 | 29,546 | 6 | The magic is still there but the plot is thinner than ever . . . | The plot is a silly one that has Astaire as Petrov , ballet dancer , chasing a musical comedy star , Ginger Rogers , across the ocean with the usual amount of misunderstandings that keep them apart until the finale . But , as with all FRED ASTAIRE and GINGER ROGERS films , it's the music that counts - - and the dance n... |
447,305 | 1,048,771 | 844,794 | 6 | Pleasant version of the Austen tale . . . richly detailed settings . . . | NORTHANGER ABBEY is a charming version of the Jane Austen tale , covering somewhat familiar Austen territory in its tale of a young woman who comes to a vast estate and falls in love with an aristocratic young man who is willing to give up his inheritance to marry her , if he must . It's beautifully lensed in color wit... |
445,199 | 1,048,771 | 404,055 | 6 | Nice work by Sinatra and Fitzgerald . . . | FRANK SINATRA should dispense with the banter between him and guest stars like ELLA FITZGERALD and just concentrate on the music . When he does , the show is a pure pleasure to watch and listen to . His pure enjoyment of being a performer is reflected here , at his best when just doing his thing on standards like WHAT ... |
446,270 | 1,048,771 | 404,054 | 6 | Sinatra does his thing in a one man show . . . | There's a very ' 65 look to this TV special with FRANK SINATRA belting out his songs on some very simple sets , backed by the graceful orchestral arrangements of Nelson Riddle and Gordon Jenkins . He's totally at ease but his quips could have been better scripted . Howevever , he does justice to a dozen songs and never... |
445,936 | 1,048,771 | 51,655 | 6 | A busy life in the day of Inspector Gideon of Scotland Yard . . . | JOHN FORD seems a strange choice to be directing a British film starring JACK HAWKINS in the role of a very busy Scotland Yard inspector who has no time for anyone else in his domestic life as long as he's on the trail of various culprits . ANNA LEE is his patient wife at home who's more concerned with raising two chil... |
447,283 | 1,048,771 | 48,728 | 6 | Hitchcock loses his touch . . . slim story is over-glamorized . . . | All this talk about the chemistry between ice princess Kelly and debonair Grant is a lot of nonsense . They're just two perfectly photogenic people who happen to be cast in the same less than satisfying romantic mystery - - she has the camera in love with her ( probably the director as well ) and he's still an attracti... |
445,824 | 1,048,771 | 44,905 | 6 | Simplified version of events is sincere attempt to tell the story . . . | Missing the mark is this MIRACLE OF OUR LADY OF FATIMA , although a sincere attempt has been made to tell the story without too many additions or over-dramatizing of actual events . Even Max Steiner's busy background score is not enough to overcome the many flaws evident in the telling . The simple truth is that none o... |
447,880 | 1,048,771 | 178,737 | 6 | Enjoyable , gorgeous to look at version of the Austen story . . . | I had no trouble enjoying MANSFIELD PARK because I had no comparison to make to the novel , which I never read . I saw nothing about it that made me think it was catering to 1999's sensibilities , despite the use of a scene where someone is caught in flagrante with another . Aside from that indiscretion , the dialog se... |
447,770 | 1,048,771 | 9,968 | 6 | Griffith stars Gish and Barthelmess in tragic tale of operatic excesses . . . | I have to preface my remarks by stating that BROKEN BLOSSOMS , for all of its worth , is suitable only for fans of silent films who can forgive all the excesses of silent melodrama . I'm not an aficionado of silent films , but BROKEN BLOSSOMS is noteworthy for what Griffith was able to achieve on film as early as 1919 ... |
447,245 | 1,048,771 | 430,230 | 6 | Interesting segment of the Inspector Lynley Mysteries . . . | Nathaniel Parker and Sharon Small do their detective work in a nice episode , well scripted and developing a clever story with a good amount of suspense as the action moves to The House of Lords after a man's dead body is found floating in the Thames . Aptly titled : The Seed of Cunning , it's well worth a watch . Seve... |
447,242 | 1,048,771 | 29,442 | 6 | Old-fashioned swashbuckler is still a rollicking good time for all . . . | The only ingredient missing in THE PRISONER OF ZENDA ( ' 37 ) is Technicolor , but it's masterfully photographed by James Wong Howe in glorious B & W and the cast is exceptionally fine . The story is the familiar one about a man forced to masquerade as a King of a fictional country ( Ruritania ) while all sorts of intr... |
447,060 | 1,048,771 | 36,120 | 6 | Margaret O'Brien tear-jerker is better than most of her early films . . . | JAMES CRAIG and MARSHA HUNT have the adult leads in LOST ANGEL but it's obvious that MGM was hoping the vehicle , specially written for child star MARGARET O'BRIEN , would prove to boost her box-office popularity at a time when she was being groomed for big time stardom . It did . At six , she was quite a little actres... |
445,909 | 1,048,771 | 44,926 | 6 | John Huston's tribute to the artist is poster art but downbeat . . . | John Huston's portrait of Henri Toulouse-Lautrec is vivid , colorful and energetic when it shows the dance hall can-can atmosphere but lacks substance as a biography when it deals with the painter's personal life in detail . However , JOSE FERRER does splendidly as the crippled artist and others around him give individ... |
447,463 | 1,048,771 | 25,094 | 6 | Far-fetched British musical about an inconvenient deception . . . | The trouble with EVERGREEN is that it lacks the pizazz of even the most average Hollywood musical and only comes to life during two of its biggest production numbers - - which occur when the film is almost over . As introduced by Robert Osborne , apparently the star , JESSIE MATTHEWS , was seen as a threat to Ginger Ro... |
445,609 | 1,048,771 | 129,167 | 6 | Succeeds brilliantly as entertainment . . . fine animation . . . | There was a preoccupation with paranoia about invasion from aliens that permeated all the science fiction in the ' 50s . This story builds on that fear by giving us an E . T . sort of encounter with an alien , in this case a super-sized piece of metal called THE IRON GIANT , who is saved from extinction by a little boy... |
447,121 | 1,048,771 | 75,005 | 6 | Some spellbinding moments but not totally credible . . . | For an effective chiller that has several well-executed scenes of horror , THE OMEN moves at too leisurely a pace under Richard Donner's direction . GREGORY PECK and LEE REMICK are a good pair as the parents of a little boy who turns out to be the Anti-Christ , a fact they slowly become aware of after a number of stran... |
448,084 | 1,048,771 | 71,598 | 6 | Harry and his Tonto . . . another buddy flick but with a difference . . . | ART CARNEY and his orange tabby take a cross-country odyssey when he loses his lodgings in a rundown NYC building being converted to a garage . He leaves his friendly , somewhat eccentric friends in his neighborhood , makes a brief stab at living with impossible relatives and then heads for the open road again . He's i... |
447,521 | 1,048,771 | 44,888 | 6 | Charming comedy / drama about a couple about to divorce . . . | THE MARRYING KIND gave movie-goers a first glimpse of ALDO RAY and he proves to be every bit a match for the comic talent and dramatic abilities of JUDY HOLLIDAY . The two of them are a sheer pleasure to watch , totally good chemistry and always believable as a husband and wife on the verge of divorce . The story is to... |
447,984 | 1,048,771 | 74,991 | 6 | Cleverly contrived plot with a stunning Herrmann score . . . | Brian dePalma really accomplished quite a feat by paying homage to Hitchcock with a strong variation on VERTIGO's theme - - a man who loses the woman he loves sees her reincarnated in another woman and then loses her too . He takes this premise and does some fancy camera-work that swirls around the lovers with an inten... |
447,534 | 1,048,771 | 373,889 | 6 | Imelda Staunton steals the film . . . a darker than usual Potter . . . | For a film that has been doing fantastic box-office business , one would hope that HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX would be a much more energized and fascinating movie than it is . Instead , it's like watching a rehash of previous Potter subplots , previous ingredients stirred into a new stew leading to a cli... |
445,840 | 1,048,771 | 906,049 | 6 | Sumptuous looking version of the " Bertram " story with interesting changes . . . | On one point I have to agree - - that the sound quality ( especially for the dialog ) needed improvement . But I found a solution for this whenever I watch a British-made film . I use the CAPTION FEATURE on my remote . Works every time . I never have to miss a word of plot and when watching a mystery , this is very imp... |
446,533 | 1,048,771 | 29,385 | 6 | Culinary Expert comes to the help of helpless housewife . . . | This is a rehash of a similar short produced a few years earlier called " Menu " . Like the previous short , this one is also in Technicolor , much improved over the intervening years , and stars PRUDENCE PENNY , a culinary expert who specialized in home economics and wrote a column a Chicago newspaper . As in the prev... |
446,156 | 1,048,771 | 40,422 | 6 | Bugs is a reluctant astronaut until he sees the carrots . . . | This is a highly amusing Bugs Bunny romp from Chuck Jones . This time the bunny is a reluctant astronaut who wants nothing to do with the spaceship to Mars , only changing his mind at the last minute when he spots the carrots being loaded . Turns out he's not alone when he lands there . Seems that Marvin the Martian ha... |
446,684 | 1,048,771 | 129,387 | 6 | Something about weirdos that'll have you laughing so hard that it hurts . . . | THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY that has every man in the film falling for her ( sometimes literally ) in a comedy that moves along with gay abandon and no shortage of slapstick silliness . Mary is played with breezy style by CAMERON DIAZ ( a throwback perhaps to Carole Lombard's wackiness in this sort of thing ) , and , ... |
447,131 | 1,048,771 | 40,444 | 6 | Could have been a whole lot more effective but Henreid is good . . . | It occurred to me , while watching HOLLOW TRIUMPH ( or THE SCAR ) , that the script would have been a lot more interesting if the JOHN QUALEN character ( the dentist ) had been a sly blackmailer . The scene where he has a private talk with bad guy Henried and says something about how he notices small details could have... |
445,652 | 1,048,771 | 443,579 | 6 | Handsomely staged Christie story is well acted . . . | As with all of the Agatha Christie stories on film , this one strays a bit from the novel but not enough to be as severely criticized as some other comments would suggest . Most of the storyline is intact , it being the tale of Mrs . McGillicuddy ( PAM FERRIS ) , who witnesses a murder from a train window and inspires ... |
447,587 | 1,048,771 | 408,236 | 6 | Fascinating but definitely the sort of musical that is an acquired taste . . . | Tim Burton gives us the dark side of Old London with cinematography that might just as well have used glorious B & W rather than drab color . Perhaps only the blood ( of which there's plenty ) could have been filmed in vivid tones of red and the rest in B & W , since this basically falls into the horror film category -... |
447,741 | 1,048,771 | 421,715 | 6 | Long , long movie from short F . Scott Fitzgerald story . . . | THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON is only half successful . First of all , if there are any Oscars to give out here it's got to be for whomever did the miraculous make-up jobs . Technical awards category might give this one a few Oscars for visual effects and cinematography . And the music by Alexandre Desplat is gor... |
447,735 | 1,048,771 | 350,811 | 6 | Stylish , handsomely produced thriller using Stephen King characters . . . | Using the Stephen King characters from " Rose Red , " THE DIARY OF ELLEN RIMBAUER is a prequel to that little saga of a monstrous house that seems to be devouring its victims . This version of the Rose Red story is handsomely photographed and well acted but suffers from a script that never really bothers to explain any... |
445,433 | 1,048,771 | 40,438 | 6 | Edmund Gwenn steals a warm-hearted Lassie film . . . | Although this is a minor Lassie film , it did open at the famous Radio City Music Hall in 1948 , where the showplace must have decided it was the perfect theater to show this family film - - in a theater that catered to wholesome films above all others . It's a charmer , helped considerably by the performances of EDMUN... |
447,411 | 1,048,771 | 67,445 | 6 | A man's furtive quest for idealized beauty of youth . . . | Art film lovers would probably rank this much higher on their scale of appreciation , but I found DEATH IN VENICE , while sumptuous to look at and listen to ( the music of Gustav Mahler fills the soundtrack with his symphonic music ) , as beautiful and empty as a multi-colored seashell . It assails the senses with sens... |
446,190 | 1,048,771 | 55,601 | 6 | Controversial film has many striking moments . . . but limited appeal . . . | A woman about to take her vows is advised by the monastery that her uncle is very ill and has sent for her at his place in the country . It soon becomes obvious that he is attracted to her because she so resembles his dead wife . He drugs her with the intention of committing rape but cannot go through with it and later... |
447,035 | 1,048,771 | 25,569 | 6 | Somewhat effective anti-war film making parallel to boy gangs . . . | It's hard to understand what made a director like Frank Borzage attach himself to this project . There's no female lead , no love interest at all , just a gang of boys in Germany determined to hold onto a piece of property and waging war against each other to hold onto a vacant lot . It's supposed to symbolize what's w... |
445,427 | 1,048,771 | 67,419 | 6 | Jacqueline Bisset is the main reason for watching this retread of ' Rosemary's Baby ' . . . | Whatever moral issues exist in this strange tale of the occult , they vanish as soon as you accept the premise of this story - - that a woman would kill another to repossess her husband with both of them in the guise of someone else's body ! ! It's about as weird as any Tales from the Crypt ! On the plus side , all of ... |
445,602 | 1,048,771 | 778,179 | 6 | Scenes from 1900s showing before and after the famous San Francisco quake . . . | The great , bustling city by the bay is shown in actual newsreel footage , a thriving metropolis of streetcars , horse and carriage , crowded neighborhoods of poor wooden houses , the Chinatown area , the opera house , the capitol , the railroad station , etc . , all while people go about their daily business on the st... |
445,302 | 1,048,771 | 443,543 | 6 | Nothing is what it seems . . . imperfect but interesting . . . | THE ILLUSIONIST is a satisfying magic show , but not quite up to the standards I expected . One factor that was especially disappointing : any discerning viewer could easily see what the final plot twist would be long before the secret is revealed . Still , it has a certain fascination for any fan of mystery , suspense... |
448,072 | 1,048,771 | 129,332 | 6 | Well crafted horror but definitely not for the faint of heart . . . | Just came across this one while surfing the net and it had me hooked from the first few scenes , although I missed the start of the film . Knowing the subject matter , I thought I'd be changing the channel on my remote after a quick glimpse , but stayed with it , largely due to the presence of GUY PEARCE in one of the ... |
446,935 | 1,048,771 | 44,789 | 6 | John Payne in one of his grittier roles . . ; | JOHN PAYNE , like Dick Powell , began the earlier part of his career as the romantic leading man for Betty Grable , Alice Faye and June Haver in Fox backstage musicals - - and like Powell , when he left his singing roles in that genre he branched out into tough guy crime films or westerns when he entered the free-lanci... |
447,391 | 1,048,771 | 335,563 | 6 | After the fall as a porn star . . . drugs , death and lots of gore . . . | Although there are a number of flashback techniques used throughout WONDERLAND , they never become too confusing , which must be some sort of tribute to writer / director James Cox . But make no mistake about it , this is a dark story of the infamous porn star John Holmes ( VAL KILMER ) and how he becomes a drug addict... |
445,722 | 1,048,771 | 40,335 | 6 | Nice blend of stories by Maugham , each with a different mood . . . | QUARTET is a subtle , understated anthology of stories by Somerset Maugham - - entertaining but decidedly uneven in presentation . Nevertheless , as a study of various British personalities among the upper classes it does manage to evoke interest without furnishing any big surprises - - which is what one usually expect... |
447,826 | 1,048,771 | 16,895 | 6 | Fast moving Harold Lloyd comedy full of energy and sight gags . . . | There's a non-stop orgy of sight gags and pratfalls throughout this Harold Lloyd comedy , FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE . Lloyd is a carefree millionaire who is dazzled by a pretty mission girl from the other side of the tracks . Once they connect , it's love at first sight and from then on Lloyd tries to please the girl and her m... |
445,581 | 1,048,771 | 25,489 | 6 | Medical drama is forerunner of " Not as a Stranger " . . . | CLARK GABLE is a dedicated doctor conflicted by feelings involving the workplace and romance - - almost the forerunner of the character ROBERT MITCHUM would play twenty years later ( Luke ) in NOT AS A STRANGER . The film deals with medicine much the way Stanley Kramer's film did , but it's based on a stage play and th... |
448,037 | 1,048,771 | 239,754 | 6 | Rugged conditions at location site for " Where Eagles Dare " . . . | An inaccessible , awesome setting in the Austrian Alps made it difficult for the cast and crew of WHERE EAGLES DARE , according to this promotional short for the espionage thriller starring RICHARD BURTON and CLINT EASTWOOD . Not only was it a hardship for the crew hampered by tons of heavy camera equipment , but actre... |
447,202 | 1,048,771 | 29,347 | 6 | The Deanna Durbin fairy-tale that started it all . . . | Judy Garland wasn't the only little girl in movies with a big voice . ONE HUNDRED MEN AND A GIRL must be why all those Jane Powell movies took shape , with Jane pestering Jose Iturbi to do this or do that while she ran through a gamut of girlish schemes . Here we have DEANNA DURBIN in her teen years trying to get her f... |
445,688 | 1,048,771 | 16,884 | 6 | Sizzling chemistry heats up the screen . . . but it's old-fashioned melodrama . . . | GRETA GARBO was never a favorite of mine , so I'm not going to give the silent FLESH AND THE DEVIL a gushing review - - the sort you expect to have from a Garbo fanatic . In looking at it objectively , I find it a beautifully photographed romantic melodrama , titillating because of the subtext of homo-erotic friendship... |
446,339 | 1,048,771 | 10,057 | 6 | Chaplin's has a hazardous day out with the family . . . | All of the deft comic touches one expects from a Charlie Chaplin short are in full bloom here . By far the best sequence is the boat chapter , wherein the shipboard characters attempt dancing on a rocky boat and everyone succumbs to seasickness . The gags are amusing , especially when Charlie enrages a jealous man by p... |
447,832 | 1,048,771 | 40,338 | 6 | Misunderstandings of adult world seen through the eyes of a boy . . . | RALPH RICHARDSON was always one of the great British actors I admired , remembering him fondly for his wonderful scenes in THE FOUR FEATHERS where he is a soldier blinded by the desert sun - - and ten years later as Dr . Sloper , the overbearing father of THE HEIRESS . Here he has another great role as Baines , the but... |
446,948 | 1,048,771 | 55,633 | 6 | A weaker companion to " The Blackboard Jungle " . . . | BURT LANCASTER takes a lot of physical and verbal abuse from NYC street hoodlums in another gritty version of hero vs . punks from the author of THE BLACKBOARD JUNGLE . Blonde beauty DINA MERRILL is his wife whom he accuses of " graduating from Vassar with a degree in sarcasm " . As the heroic D . A . , Lancaster has t... |
446,113 | 1,048,771 | 64,310 | 6 | Stylish thriller seems more like a made-for-TV movie . . . | Joseph Stefano ( who wrote the script for PSYCHO ) , is responsible for this script which is fine until about mid-point when the story starts to fall apart . He drops the theme of terrifying cats for awhile and then has them emerge once more just for the rather hokey climax . But it's stylishly done . You can feel Bria... |
447,925 | 1,048,771 | 20,695 | 6 | Basil Rathbone in an early detective role . . . | When you consider that sound had only come in a couple of years before THE BISHOP MURDER CASE , the fact that the film still has a soundtrack that needs restoration is no surprise . But I did manage to see a good print of the film on TCM and the gleaming B & W photography belied the fact that this was made in 1930 . Bu... |
447,069 | 1,048,771 | 49,140 | 6 | Handsome , little heralded historical romance has its virtues . . . | DIANE is probably the least well-known of all LANA TURNER's " big " pictures at MGM - - the studio which ironically was on the verge of bankruptcy at the time of this film , but you'd never know it from the opulence of the finished work in gorgeous Technicolor and featuring one of Miklos Rozsa's more subtle scores . It... |
446,245 | 1,048,771 | 131,512 | 6 | Very melodramatic " Passing Parade " about a courageous doctor . . . | JONATHAN HALE is the courageous small-town doctor who has the strength to defy the villagers who are opposed to any doctor using surgical instruments to open the human body . When a woman becomes in need of surgery to remove a cancer , the doctor feels obliged to follow the wishes of her husband that he operate . Of co... |
446,939 | 1,048,771 | 25,461 | 6 | Interesting pre-code with Francis as a reformed prostitute . . . | Every once in awhile a viewer can become aware that Michael Curtiz is behind the camera on the directing chores because MANDALAY is a visual treat , every shot artistically framed . And KAY FRANCIS fans won't be disappointed because she wears a variety of striking gowns as a woman fleeing her past as a prostitute / sin... |
447,265 | 1,048,771 | 25,464 | 6 | Film's only distinction is the John Dillinger background story . . . | This was the film John Dillinger was watching in Chicago , the last one he saw before being shot to death as he left the theater . That film history fact is about the only real distinction this well named " melodrama " has . Once again , it's a buddy story for Gable , this time the childhood pal of WILLIAM POWELL . See... |
446,390 | 1,048,771 | 64,471 | 6 | The title tells it all . . . fun at the expense of some tired tourists . . . | If nothing else , IF IT'S TUESDAY , THIS MUST BE BELGIUM serves as a nice travelogue for any armchair traveler to enjoy with a glass of wine ( or beer , if that's your taste ! ) It's a funny , uncomplicated look at a bevy of assorted American tourists doing a quick tour of several foreign countries - - and the various ... |
446,931 | 1,048,771 | 144,120 | 6 | A rough ride to Hackensack for Chucky and his bride . . . | Clever is the word that comes to mind when I think of the mixture of horror and comedy that makes up a good deal of BRIDE OF CHUCKY , much of the humor due to some good one-liners by Chucky ( courtesy of BRAD DOURIF's voice ) . And JENNIFER TILLY does an exceptional job as a dim-witted , evil partner of the doll eventu... |
447,626 | 1,048,771 | 16,655 | 6 | Strange tale permits Chaney to give memorable performance . . . | If it weren't for the acting technique of LON CHANEY , here deceiving others by assuming a dual role , THE BLACKBIRD would be a lot less interesting to discuss . The plot at first promises to be intriguing , but soon becomes bogged down in a story of petty jealousy between two crooked men for the affections of a pretty... |
445,570 | 1,048,771 | 51,337 | 6 | Sinbad and the cyclops , the two-headed bird and the skeleton . . . | Delightful escapist fare for children , but adults will notice how primitive the stop-motion photography is by today's standards of computer imagery . This is the typical fantasy adventure fare offered in the ' 50s for lovers of tales of the Arabian Nights . The bland but handsome KERWIN MATHEWS is Sinbad , who single-... |
445,730 | 1,048,771 | 35,957 | 6 | Gripping war film was another morale booster during World War II . . . | Like BATAAN and WAKE ISLAND , GUADALCANAL DIARY is another of the many gripping war films that captured attention during WWII , complete with narration by Reed Hadley as the war correspondent telling the story of how U . S . Marines fought and died at Guadalcanal . At first , the marines met no resistance since the Jap... |
446,159 | 1,048,771 | 29,283 | 6 | Weak material bolstered by bright cast . . . | The best thing about MY DEAR MISS ALDRICH is that it gives MAUREEN O'SULLIVAN a chance to prove that she was not only very pretty but a capable enough actress to ensure that in the future she would be rewarded with more leading lady roles worthy of her charming presence . Not so . MGM gave her this chance to shine brie... |
447,702 | 1,048,771 | 35,966 | 6 | Fascinating but overly melodramatic tale of Nazi terror . . . | Resistance by Czech citizens during World War II against their Nazi occupiers forms the basis for HANGMEN ALSO DIE ! , based loosely on the real-life assassination of Reinhard Heydrich , Nazi governor of Prague . Unfortunately , despite gripping moments , the story is given standard Hollywood World War II treatment by ... |
447,861 | 1,048,771 | 35,940 | 6 | Another amusing entry with Harold Peary as Gildersleeve . . . | HAROLD PEARY as Gildersleeve gets mixed up with fluttery society dame BILLIE BURKE and her crazy brother , HOBART CAVANAUGH , who has a William Tell fixation and likes to shoot arrows into apples atop heads . CLAIRE CLARLETON is the blonde gold-digger with an eye on a mink coat and ANN DORAN is Peary's jealous girlfrie... |
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