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493,332 | 3,280,905 | 36,715 | 3 | A Curious Failure | This film was the first one to star Boris Karloff that was in color . As such , it illustrates that to be the first of anything is meaningless if the film lacks coherence , intelligence , and a decent script . The plot begins by taking the viewers into an old theater , where Karloff is shown coming night after night . ... |
492,726 | 3,280,905 | 48,413 | 3 | A Ridiculous View of a Historical Titan | Except that this film is short , I was tempted to call it " NAPOLEON BLOWN-APART " , but that suggests the film is actually long and has some degree of detail . THis monstrosity is under ninety minutes . There are short films about Napoleon , but they concentrate on one aspect of the man . CONQUEST deals with Napoleon ... |
491,643 | 3,280,905 | 149,793 | 4 | What an annoying , but sweet ( ? ) little girl | The use of " You Tube " is quite curious because of the memories it reawakens . One such is the long forgotten ( possibly justifiably so ) cartoons about the comic strip child " Little Lulu " . Lulu and her pals like Tubby and Wellington Van Snob were all quite popular in the period from 1935 to 1965 or so . As a kid I... |
493,306 | 3,280,905 | 52,448 | 4 | Long Forgotten , except for one small moment . | I cannot even go to a mediocre " 5 " on this , as my memories of this show are so really small . I was all of four when it was on the air , and I must have decided to watch it , but found it not really memorable except for one little bit that was odd and I can recall . Hutton is helping one of the boys that she is now ... |
491,607 | 3,280,905 | 41,255 | 4 | Montgomery's Farewell to the Movies | After the turning point of NIGHT MUST FALL , Robert Montgomery ( for the most time ) came into his finest films and performances : HERE COMES MR . JORDAN , THEY WERE EXPENDABLE , THE LADY IN THE LAKE , RIDE THE PINK HORSE , THE SAXON CHARM , JUNE BRIDE . Even some of the failures he was in were interesting enough to be... |
492,076 | 3,280,905 | 53,214 | 4 | Seen once , and memorable for one scene only | Clifton Webb was always a difficult person to cast - in the 1940s and 1950s they just did not make movies where he would have fit perfectly : films where his character was openly gay . There are elements in his films ( especially in LAURA and THE DARK CORNER and THE RAZOR'S EDGE ) that suggest a high strung , waspy , n... |
492,943 | 3,280,905 | 35,659 | 4 | The Ruin of an Interesting , if minor Eric Ambler story | It hurts to give any film with Sidney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre less than " 5 " on a scale of " 1 " to " 10 " , but BACKGROUND TO DANGER ( despite their presence ) is not a good World War II espionage piece . It may be the weakest movie ever made from an Eric Ambler novel . Between 1938 and 1945 Ambler wrote five spy... |
492,235 | 3,280,905 | 130,911 | 4 | When a Well-intentioned Idea collapses | I am hesitant to give this below par television movie a " 4 " out of " 10 " . It had one of the best comic casts for the time ( 1968 ) in a television movie . And it was a rarity : the star was a brilliant comic who appeared in many worthy films but almost never as the star . For the star was Jonathan Winters , possibl... |
493,160 | 3,280,905 | 69,577 | 4 | How to wreck a successful sit-com combination . | I admit that I do like GILLIGAN'S ISLAND . Idiot show that it was , the cast ( despite rumors of personality clashes ) blended perfectly and the stories , while predictable , were funny . And I suspect that I have the support of most television viewers about this . When I watched the antics of Bob Denver , Alan Hale Jr... |
492,360 | 3,280,905 | 49,369 | 4 | When will this be released again ? | This is the great mystery movie for fans of Hope and Hepburn . First of all it is the sole time they ever appeared in any movie together . Secondly it is dated - it has to be seen recalling what the heart of the Cold War was like in 1956 , the year of the Hungarian Up-rising and the Suez Crisis . Apparently it is more ... |
492,819 | 3,280,905 | 888,394 | 4 | A Bad View of a Television Favorite | Throughout the 1950s Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz ( with Viviene Vance and William Frawley ) made television history by the first really great comedy show and sit-com show ( one that has never stopped being available on television , half a century afterward ! ) . The daffy Lucy and her crazy schemes ( usually to get int... |
493,249 | 3,280,905 | 84,814 | 4 | A Sad and Misguided Error | When Peter Sellers died in 1980 he was planning on another Clouseau film . He probably hated the idea , although he was writing the script . Sellers knew that his signature role for all time would be the stumble-bum French Inspector , but he hated how it hid his performances in , say , DR . STRANGELOVE or BEING THERE f... |
491,599 | 3,280,905 | 22,700 | 4 | Paging Miss Glory . . . Please | William Randolph Hearst had a wife and four sons , and at least one mistress . It is the final mistress he had , comedienne and former Ziegfeld girl Marion Davies that is remembered today . Hearst was many things , media mogul ( the American prototype for Rupert Murdoch ) , would be king ( or Presidential aspirant ) or... |
492,276 | 3,280,905 | 70,438 | 5 | At the Old Lincoln Arts Cinema in 1973 | In the late 1960s I discovered the Lincoln Arts Cinema on West 57th Street in Manhattan - my sister and I went there to see THE LION IN WINTER when it came out . Subsequently I went by myself or with others , in particular to see the series of re-released films of Charlie Chaplin in the early 1970s . But all things are... |
492,842 | 3,280,905 | 56,363 | 5 | A Vague Memory Now | One day I hope they will show this movie again . I saw it in 1964 or so on a weekday afternoon , so the movie was probably badly cut up for commercials . I recall that Milligan ( in one sequence ) demonstrates that he can sort and dispense letters in the post office better than the machine that they have purchased . An... |
493,443 | 3,280,905 | 660,820 | 5 | Twentieth Century Disasters meet a " Flying Dutchman " | A bit of background is needed here . In the aftermath of the sinking of the Titanic , some of those who were in the water , but were pulled up into the lifeboats , still died as a result of exposure . The most notable victim among these was John Philips , one of the two brave wireless men - the other was Harold Bride -... |
493,236 | 3,280,905 | 28,346 | 5 | The Best of the Bad Films of the 1930s ? | Misinforming , pompous , self-righteous ( in the figure of the school official played by Joseph Forte ) , TELL YOUR CHILDREN ( better known as REEFER MADNESS ) is usually pushed as one of the worst films ever made . It made the Medved Brothers FIFTY WORST FILMS book , along with such dreck as ROBOT MONSTER , but is rev... |
492,585 | 3,280,905 | 19,702 | 5 | The British Museum Had Lost It's Charm . . . . | Like so many of his films , because Alfred Hitchcock became such a great director his name became a hallmark for suspense . To attach his name with any project gives that project a " leg up " . This happens with many major directors : Capra , Welles , Huston . . . the list is simply endless . Their fans think they can ... |
492,520 | 3,280,905 | 48,087 | 5 | It should have been better | This film should have been better somehow . It has a lot going for it , in terms of the cast ( with Stewart Granger and then wife Jean Simmons cast in roles which generate friction , not love ) . This is like the negative to their relationship in YOUNG BESS . In that story the plot of Admiral Thomas Seymour to grab con... |
492,482 | 3,280,905 | 89,628 | 5 | A Strange Misfire Comedy . | I am only giving this film a " 5 " out of respect for it's cast headed by Walter Matthau , Charles Grodin , Steve Martin , Bill Macy , Tyne Daly , Gilda Radner , Penny Marshall , and Vincent Gardenia . Otherwise it is a peculiar satire on Hollywood that never quite works . Walter Matthau works at a large studio , now r... |
491,712 | 3,280,905 | 32,850 | 5 | You had trouble , my friends . . . right here in Manitoba . | Cecil B . DeMille's fame as a leading movie director is still secure because of his innovative nature . He certainly developed spectacle movies , and even today he is remembered as the pioneer . But that does not blind us to his flaws . His characters are not three dimensional usually but black or white in personality ... |
491,885 | 3,280,905 | 39,288 | 5 | Errol Flynn's attempt at film noir | I think it is generally acknowledged that Errol Flynn's best film work was in those films that combined his charm and his athletic abilities , be they swashbucklers , boxing films , or westerns . But as he got older Flynn was determined to prove his acting abilities . He could act when he was generally interested in th... |
492,366 | 3,280,905 | 41,604 | 5 | The tepid end of a great comedy team | Because I like the Marx Brothers I am willing to give this film a 5 . If it had starred Wheeler and Woolsey or the Ritz Brothers , I might have given it a 2 . After ROOM SERVICE , only A NIGHT IN CASABLANCA had any real merit among the final Marx Brother films . In the case of these two films , the former was based on ... |
492,496 | 3,280,905 | 53,109 | 5 | The Peculiar Problem of James Cagney's Musicals | In a wonderful movie career - arguably the best ever for a male leading man - Jimmy Cagney made seven musical films . Of these , only two are great musicals . The first was Busby Berkeley's FOOTLIGHT PARADE ( 1933 ) wherein Cagney is the harried producer of mini-musicals that are used to introduce films in movie houses... |
492,300 | 3,280,905 | 27,657 | 5 | An unsexy Marlene can be dull - and a Selznick misfire in color | He's not recalled today like his two contemporaries Somerset Maugham or James Hilton . He is Robert Hitchens , and in his time ( roughly from 1900 to 1947 or so ) his books were frequently best sellers . Only one is recalled today - and it is not THE GARDEN OF ALLAH . His fictionalization of Oscar Wilde's career - THE ... |
493,174 | 3,280,905 | 24,405 | 5 | The First Hollywood Sound Version of OLIVER TWIST | This 1933 film is just adequate like a detailed synopsis of the story of OLIVER TWIST . Unlike the 1948 Lean / Guiness blockbuster , or the 1968 Reed / Moody treat , this one is so-so . I only comment on it for two reasons . First Dicky Moore played Oliver ( not as well as John Howard Davies or Mark Lester in the later... |
491,747 | 3,280,905 | 104,688 | 5 | A Bloated Version of a Curious Holmes Story | In the last two seasons of the Jeremy Brett " Sherlock Holmes " stories several two hour versions were written that were not really that good . Only one , THE MASTER BLACKMAILER , proved well done , because it illustrated the effects of the blackmail on society victims . It also was helped by Robert Hardy's performance... |
492,311 | 3,280,905 | 51,003 | 5 | An Interesting Failure | This film should have been made by William Wellman or John Ford . Both of them made films about flight - Wellman made LAFAYETTE ESCADRILLE among others , and FORD did THE WINGS OF EAGLES . Though Ford's first love was the sea ( and he was a master of westerns and films on Irish themes ) , he had a grasp about excitemen... |
493,034 | 3,280,905 | 22,254 | 5 | One or two good moments , but mostly forgettable | PARLOR , BEDROOM , AND BATH is not a total waste . It is always curious to see a transitional film , and this is in several ways . It is an early Buster Keaton talkie , and demonstrates how quickly the MGM brass could desert a brilliant film maker due to total lack of interest and sympathy in his abilities . Having dem... |
492,313 | 3,280,905 | 35,553 | 5 | Query : Is " acclimatize " a word or not ? | This film is given only a five by me - I stayed up late one night to see it , because I wanted to see Hedy Lamarr in one of her most famous performances . It was about 1971 , in the summertime ( so it was sultry weather - good to see such a tropical film ) . Hedy was good to watch , although her character's dialog and ... |
492,028 | 3,280,905 | 507,782 | 5 | A Below Par Episode For This Series | I have usually said that the best episodes of ONE STEP BEYOND were able to hold the attention of the viewer even if the viewer was skeptical about the subject matter . This particular episode actually was below average - the subject matter did not live up to the build up , despite the tragedy at the conclusion . Alex P... |
492,976 | 3,280,905 | 55,152 | 5 | When a Master repeats himself . . . | There is no denying that Jules Verne is one of the great surviving authors of the 19th Century . This despite poor translations , and a tradition of equating his work with " children's fiction " . He was a serious novelist for adults , but his love of the industrial revolution in technology makes it useful to introduce... |
493,210 | 3,280,905 | 58,453 | 5 | Paris Champagne can still fall flat | William Holden really reached stardom in 1950 with " Sunset Blvd . " , and subsequently gained an Oscar for " Stalag 17 " . A man with one of the most effective screen voices , he also was handsome in a realistic way . But it took Holden a dozen or so years of struggle in Hollywood before Billy Wilder put him into " Su... |
493,264 | 3,280,905 | 41,134 | 5 | Sir Noel's Acting Limitations | Years ago , when I was in high school , I read a book that evaluated the leading West End acting giants of the first half of the twentieth century ( or more exactly , those who were the big names from 1925 - 1971 ) . They were Sir Lawrence Olivier , Sir John Guilgud , Dame Edith Evans , Sir Ralph Richardson , Sir Micha... |
493,023 | 3,280,905 | 60,200 | 5 | And now presenting " Okrascope " | I recall this film when I saw it once on television in the early 1970s . While I see it has gotten many favorable write-ups on this thread , I have to admit it disappointed me . It was that long , long ( too long ) series of third rate films that Sellers got involved in after his peak in the middle 1960s , when only an... |
493,271 | 3,280,905 | 29,609 | 5 | Minor film - but a footnote to a classic swindle | I like P . G . Wodehouse , but this film is not in the same category as A DAMSEL IN DISTRESS . That film showed the Wodehouse's characterizations and situations at their funniest . This one seems strained . But it's cast is a nice one , and it has an interesting social historic note to it . Alan Dinehart and George Giv... |
492,012 | 3,280,905 | 94,563 | 5 | From the people who gave you St . Elsewhere | TATTINGERS is an example of the hit and miss aspect of production success in television . The writers and staff who created the excellent medical show ST . ELSEWHERE decided to branch out and make this similar comedy / drama about a famous New York City restaurant called TATTINGERS . It was supposed to be on par with L... |
491,642 | 3,280,905 | 150,762 | 5 | A cartoon look at elementary school learning in 1950 | This Little Audrey cartoon was from the Paramount studios like the Little Lulu cartoons that preceded it . Audrey and her friends were the subject of comic books when I grew up , and like Lulu and Nancy ( in the newspapers ) she was a determined little girl who found her plans threatened by some of the boys she had as ... |
492,951 | 3,280,905 | 31,722 | 5 | James Addison Reavis meets Charles Guiteau ( sort - of ) | I'm not really a fan of the old western - " B " film programmers like THE NIGHT RIDERS , but word of the reappearance of this film on television ( from a friend who talked about it with me ) , raised my curiosity a little about it . Despite the appearance of John Wayne ( who handles his " Three Meskeeter " role of " St... |
492,312 | 3,280,905 | 81,180 | 5 | Mildly Amusing Sequel | In the late 1970s Robert Conrad and Ross Martin reappeared as James West and Artemis Gordon , their roles from THE WILD WILD WEST ( a . k . a . THE WILD WEST ) , a fun send up of the James Bond type of spy stories in the 1960s . THE WILD WILD WEST was set in the Grant Administration ( 1869 - 1877 ) and most of the vill... |
492,652 | 3,280,905 | 51,638 | 5 | Verne's Columbiad - reduced in effect . | After TWENTY THOUSAND LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA and AROUND THE WORLD IN EIGHTY DAYS it is most likely that the most popular of Jules Verne's titles ( the ones that most people are familiar with ) is his 1865 novel FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON , together with it's first sequel , the 1870 novel AROUND THE MOON . What fascinate... |
492,635 | 3,280,905 | 62,067 | 5 | Typical Family film - Like Mondo Kane | I never fully understood the reasons that my parents took us to see movies in the 1950s and 1960s . We saw popular films like Disney's " Peter Pan " , " The Sound Of Music " , " My Fair Lady " , and " South Pacific " . We saw kid oriented films like " The Incredible Mr . Limpet " . We saw obscure films ( nowadays ) lik... |
493,419 | 3,280,905 | 536,304 | 5 | Sometimes an idea should never be developed too quickly | Occasionally rival networks have put out television shows that mirror each other in their design or plot . The most notable example was the joint appearance of THE MUNSTERS and THE ADDAMS FAMILY on rival stations in the middle 1960s . That was a rarity though - both shows were funny and maintain audience affections to ... |
491,812 | 3,280,905 | 46,834 | 5 | Farfel , Farfel , Pippick | The " words " in the " summary line " were possibly the funniest line in the Bob Hope movie CASANOVA'S BIG NIGHT . That really does not say much - but then CASANOVA'S BIG NIGHT doesn't say much either . In 1954 it was becoming more and more difficult to find any project that showed Hope to advantage . His insistence on... |
493,014 | 3,280,905 | 143,968 | 5 | People we never think of as our guardian angels ? | I'm only giving this short ( which was shown this morning on the TCM network ) a middling " 5 " out of " 10 " . It is one of those earnest little movie house short subjects in the " Passing Parade " series which were meant to edify the audience . In the 1910 - 30s film began to become somewhat more informative , hoping... |
492,786 | 3,280,905 | 49,225 | 5 | The Weakest of the Three Lucy - Desi films | This is not a total failure , as the three principles do mingle well , and they do try . Mason , the most dramatically successful of the three actors , actually could play comedy on occasion ( think of him as the " chubby chasing " old goat in GEORGY GIRL ) but his best work was in drama . In fact two years before this... |
492,807 | 3,280,905 | 33,922 | 5 | Lombard + Montgomery + Hitchcock = Mediocrity | Because it is somewhat unique in Hitchcock's works , there has been a continuous attempt in recent years to upgrade public opinion about MR . AND MRS . SMITH . Hitchcock explained to Francois Truffault in HITCHCOCK / TRUFFAULT that he always wanted to work with Carole Lombard , and she prevailed on him to do this film ... |
492,416 | 3,280,905 | 209,031 | 5 | One of the " Holy Grails " of Missing Movies | I suspect that if HUMOR RISK was ever located , and transferred to video or DVD , it would eventually disappoint people . The problem is that only one of the four ( in 1926 five ) Marx Brothers was silent - Harpo . Groucho and Chico required sound for their types of humor , with malapropisms , puns , double entendres ,... |
492,320 | 3,280,905 | 22,002 | 6 | Jean Before Stardom , Lew Struggling On , Robert All Calm | I remember seeing IRON MAN back in the 1960s - it is seldom revived on television these days . It is the typical boxing melodrama , which despite an interesting director ( Tod Browning , away from his supernatural or " freaks " ) was a mediocre account of the rise and rot of a boxing champ . The champ here is Lew Ayres... |
491,873 | 3,280,905 | 26,246 | 6 | The Greatest " Detective " Novel of All ? | Fyodor Dostoeyevski is , without a doubt , one of the greatest novelists of his native Russia , of 19th Century Europe , and of world literature . That said , he is also a pain in the ass to read . If you are into his views of self-sacrifice and mysticism , and of redemption through intense , sometimes meaningless suff... |
491,883 | 3,280,905 | 39,041 | 6 | Updating " Enoch Arden " | Alfred , Lord Tennyson , is remembered by most people who like movies because he wrote ( as George Orwell once said ) the most stirring poem about warfare concerning a regiment of cavalry that charged the wrong guns . If you see Errol Flynn's THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE , Lord Tennyson's lines appear at the conclus... |
492,806 | 3,280,905 | 35,279 | 6 | Hooray For Norman Lloyd ! ! ! | In 1938 Orson Welles ' Mercury Theater Group put on a classic stage production of Shakespeare's JULIUS CAESAR , in which Welles reset the story from the Roman Empire of 44 - 43 B . C . to 1938 Europe . Caesar was now a typical fascist dictator , and Brutus and his fellow conspirators were trying to free their country .... |
493,441 | 3,280,905 | 660,877 | 6 | An interesting little episode - with a diabolic comic conclusion | This was not a long episode of " Night Gallery , like " They're Closing Down Tim Reilly'S Bar " . It was about five minutes long , but it was quite amusing in it's conclusion . I will add this - the cast given here is erroneous . No witches appeared in the episode and Agnes Moorehead was not in it at all . Victor Buono... |
491,705 | 3,280,905 | 23,820 | 6 | Nice sing fest for Crosby - less than that as a " funny " short subject | I saw this today on a video cassette a friend sent to me . It was not the greatest short comedy film or even in the first two or three hundred best short features . Good points about this is that it spotlights the young Crosby , the popular radio and record crooner , singing WHEN THE BLUE OF THE NIGHT and AUF WIEDERSEI... |
491,710 | 3,280,905 | 45,607 | 6 | Lucille Toody's Favorite Movie | I enjoyed this comedy , which demonstrates that one can't have one's cake and eat it too . Alec Guiness has found that he has a perfect recipe for happiness by being a bigamist . He has one wife in Gibraltar ( Celia Johnson ) and one in Ceuta ( Yvonne De Carlo ) . As his business is running a ferry service between the ... |
492,853 | 3,280,905 | 87,980 | 6 | Bill's first move towards the serious . | Bill Murray had been one of the bright stars of the original Saturday NIGHT LIVE . He had a good transition into films in films like STRIPES . But in 1984 he felt he had to show his growth as a performer . He left comedies and moved into straight drama . For some reason he chose to remake Somerset Maugham's novel-into-... |
492,190 | 3,280,905 | 30,712 | 6 | Seen Once Many Years Ago | I have not seen this film since it was shown on television somewhere in the early 1960s . And the reason I recall it at all was not the singing of Alice Faye , nor the antics of Joan Davis ( a sadly forgotten comedian ) . It was the appearance of Jimmy Durante alone , or with Fred Allen . Durante's film career has not ... |
492,733 | 3,280,905 | 35,318 | 6 | I Wonder if Lord Haw Haw saw this ? | The first two Basil Rathbone - Nigel Bruce Sherlock Holmes outings ( THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES and THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES ) are usually considered the best of the series , although several of the " modernized " ones ( THE SCARLET CLAW , SHERLOCK HOLMES FACES DEATH , THE HOUSE OF FEAR ) have really really... |
492,183 | 3,280,905 | 15,289 | 6 | Mary Ann Cross's " Historical Novel " | People watching his comic performances , or his detective roles first as Philo Vance and then as Nick Charles , rarely think of William Powell as anything but a terrific actor in talkies , who happened to be good in comedy , mystery , and drama be he married to his screen partner Myrna Loy or Mr . Day Sr . in LIFE WITH... |
492,309 | 3,280,905 | 50,599 | 6 | A Curiously Imbalanced Film Of Interest | KISS THEM FOR ME is about three naval officers who are returned to the states during wartime on furlough . One , Ray Walston , is up for a Congressional seat in his district , and actually may be able to get out soon . The other two ( Cary Grant and Larry Blyden ) have earned the furlough for their heroism . But there ... |
493,421 | 3,280,905 | 136,662 | 6 | One of many comic failures of the 1960s | A slightly better than average sit-com for it's period , RUN BUDDY RUN was a comic turn based on THE FUGITIVE . Instead of David Jannsen's Dr . Richard Kimble running from Barry Morse's Inspector Gerard on The Fugitive to clear himself of his wife's murder ( and find the one armed man who did it ) , Buddy ( Jack Sheldo... |
493,440 | 3,280,905 | 660,861 | 6 | What the Future Might Give Us By Accident | This was one of the better stories on NIGHT GALLERY . Burgess Meredith is a trained physician whose career went on the rocks . He has become an alcoholic and a derelict . He has a bottle of booze and is drinking the rotgut when he stumbles on another derelict played by Chill Wills ( who keeps repeating his name " Heppe... |
491,766 | 3,280,905 | 26,129 | 6 | A Muni Mistake | It is interesting to see how a reputation that was once high can tumble to later generations - somewhat unfairly . Paul Muni was not a poor actor . In his best work ( SCARFACE , JUAREZ , LIFE OF LOUIS PASTEUR , WE ARE NOT ALONE ) his work remains quite substantial in it's effectiveness - he was no mean actor . But when... |
492,522 | 3,280,905 | 63,034 | 6 | A Distant Memory Now | Bernard Shaw wrote GREAT CATHERINE ( WHOM GLORY STILL ADORES ) back in the teens , and it is occasionally revived . Not all of his plays get revived . In particular his " short " plays . GREAT CATHERINE is a one act play , and it runs about ninety minutes ( short , in comparison to say PYGMALION or MAJOR BARBARA ) . As... |
492,526 | 3,280,905 | 32,719 | 6 | Our first great national invention | I only saw this film in the 1960s , and memories of it are somewhat sparse . I recall Richard Greene trying to get financing for his steamboat , and finding roadblocks by various troublemakers , mostly local sailors who realize that steam power will hurt their sail oriented business . One moment that was well handled i... |
492,569 | 3,280,905 | 32,715 | 6 | Mr . Fields liked children - if they were parboiled ! | A typical cartoon " Merrie Melodie " from Warners involving a mouse who sounds and looks like W . C . Fields offering a tour of a closed department store to his fellow mice , in a wire basket on cables ( used to transfer goods from department of the store to another ) . The price for the tour is $ . 10 . Even when givi... |
491,722 | 3,280,905 | 751,887 | 6 | A Crank named Schrank | Actually ( and surprisingly ) I saw this episode - and it had all the defects of the series , as well as it's better points . The actors were hamstrung in this series by a well-intentioned but stupid method of telling the stories . Instead of dramatizing them ( like in " Profiles In Courage " or " The Great Adventure "... |
493,057 | 3,280,905 | 61,431 | 6 | Borscht Belt Hoods and Mr . Ryan | This is definitely not the greatest film comedy , but it has it's moments . The plot has to do with mob boss Ryan's discovery of a large scale theft of cash that seemed about to be uncovered by his mob's bookkeeper , Bill Dana . Dana is killed in front of Ryan and his right hand gopher Sid Caesar while barbecuing ( som... |
493,442 | 3,280,905 | 660,798 | 6 | A view of a possible future that never quite came about . | The dialog in this episode of NIGHT GALLERY was a little better than the one for the episode of the LONE SURVIVOR . It is also interesting because it demonstrates the danger of predicting the future with too much accuracy . When George Orwell wrote 1984 he was foreseeing a dismal world view ( based on the situations of... |
492,935 | 3,280,905 | 56,673 | 6 | An Edwardian tragic-comedy | Peter Sellers first successful dramatic role of any stature is as General Leo Fitzjohn in this version of the play by Jean Anouilh . Although a success in the military ( we see over the years as he rose to his present rank ) he was married to a woman who was bed-ridden due to emotional problems , and he was never quite... |
492,928 | 3,280,905 | 37,168 | 6 | The Cursed Black Pearl of the Borgias | In 1903 Arthur Conan Doyle wrote a short story called " The Adventure of the Six Napoleons " . In it Inspector Lestrade tells Holmes and Watson of a strange series of seemingly unrelated crimes in which houses are burglarized and bric-a-brac smashed . Is it the work of a madman or an intelligent criminal ? Holmes disco... |
491,844 | 3,280,905 | 41,573 | 6 | Minor film comedy - but the first to tackle " misinformation " | I saw this about thirty years ago , late at night and have never seen it revived . This is understandable , for despite a good cast and director ( Michael Curtiz , of all people ) it is not a great comedy but a passingly acceptable one . Jane Wyman is a woman whose reputation for honesty is important regarding her job ... |
492,117 | 3,280,905 | 32,276 | 6 | This Can't Be Shakespeare | Usually Rogers and Hart are credited with the second great book musical with their 1941 flop ( later hit ) " Pal Joey " . That is the show that is most likely to be revived of all their book shows ( although " On Your Toes " was successfully revived a few years ago ) . However , they had several shows with some type of... |
493,352 | 3,280,905 | 37,138 | 6 | Stan and Ollie in decline . | All the great movie comics made poor comedies in comparison to their best ones . For every THE BANK DICK and IT'S A GIFT , W . C . Fields did a MRS . WIGGS OF CABBAGE PATCH or ALICE IN WONDERLAND . For every DUCK SOUP and A NIGHT AT THE OPERA , the Marx Brothers did a LOVE HAPPY or a STORY OF MANKIND . Chaplin's MODERN... |
492,434 | 3,280,905 | 50,422 | 6 | Mildly amusing film only | Shown last night on Turner Classic Films , THE FUZZY PINK NIGHTGOWN was based on a novel that was published in 1956 . The story is simple : A man has just been released from prison after four years , serving a major crime sentence for something he did not do . The man and his friend are hired by a conniving film studio... |
491,694 | 3,280,905 | 45,837 | 6 | A Film That Disappeared | This was a nice film - an average comic adventure story and nothing more . At the time it was made it's star , Red Skelton was really concentrating on his very successful comedy variety show on television that would last until the 1970s . He still would make movies , but they were no longer an absolute necessity . Skel... |
493,430 | 3,280,905 | 126,057 | 6 | Pretty Amusing , But I think the Version I Saw was not the complete film . | I rather like the " Behind the Eighth Ball " series when they are shown on television . The formula is set - Joe McDoakes ( George O'Hanlon ) is always interested in becoming something more colorful and interesting than he is . Inevitably , with all his attempts at preparation he fails miserably . How he fails ( usuall... |
492,543 | 3,280,905 | 108,715 | 6 | Nice Try For a Revival , but not quite good enough | The original BURKE'S LAW from the 1960s was , in it's day , as much a popular detective series with " style " as THE AVENGERS were . That does not mean it was as well written as the best AVENGERS episodes were . The best BURKE'S LAW episodes concentrated on the mystery plotting rather than the social satire of Steed an... |
493,108 | 3,280,905 | 26,422 | 6 | Tex Avery's First Cartoon as Supervisor | A mildly amusing 1935 cartoon that was replayed yesterday on Turner Classic Movies . Beans was briefly ( very briefly ) the leading figure in Merrie Melodies , before his lack of any humorous comic personality suggested that he really did not deserve such an exalted position . He is one of the gold miners in Red Gulch ... |
493,247 | 3,280,905 | 21,622 | 6 | Reasonably good acting , but Sinclair Lewis should have sued | Sinclair Lewis wrote ARROWSMITH in 1923 , after the first two of his blockbuster novels that dissected American Society ( MAIN STREET and BABBITT ) . Lewis decided to make a complete study about the medical profession . As such it was brilliant - far more brilliant than this movie is . If one can think of the novel as ... |
492,700 | 3,280,905 | 56,776 | 6 | A Curiously Forgotten Bump in A Successful Television Career | In the middle and late 1950s Phil Silvers became a television star of top magnitude in the comedy YOU'LL NEVER GET RICH , wherein he was that con-man's con-man Sergeant Ernie Bilko , the best motor pool head in the U . S . Army , stationed in a Midwestern Fort . Episode after episode followed his schemes to make a buck... |
493,190 | 3,280,905 | 95,252 | 6 | This Film Is Also In Honor of those Escapees . . . And the Commandant of the Camp | I am noting that of the previous comments of this film two of them are rather picky about the factuality of the aftermath story of the Great Escape . There have been times that I have been picky like that too , but I also note that the very fact that a film is made to show what happened after is a triumph for at least ... |
491,917 | 3,280,905 | 56,741 | 6 | Some Characters Do Not Age Too Well | I was nine years old and a new comedy show was on the air . The show was named for it's star , but the fact was that the public knew the star from his " stage " / " television " persona - it really should have been called " The Jose Jimenez Show " . Some stereotypes are not meant to be offensive , but eventually are co... |
492,948 | 3,280,905 | 68,427 | 6 | Rosalind's Farewell , and a sad missed opportunity | I remember seeing this in 1972 on television , little realizing as I watched that the reason I was watching had an ironic side . I always was a fan of Rosalind Russell , and here she was playing a rare television movie role opposite two other figures from the 1930s - 1940s " golden age of movies : Douglas Fairbanks Jr ... |
491,828 | 3,280,905 | 25,740 | 6 | Sadie and her men | A Joan Crawford vehicle ( prior to 1940 , when she got more control over choosing her properties ) tended to have her the center of attention of several men at once . In THE GORGEOUS HUSSEY she is of interest to Melvin Douglas , Jimmy Steward , Robert Taylor , and Franchot Tone ( she ends with Tone , but Taylor apparen... |
493,021 | 3,280,905 | 56,957 | 6 | An Unusual Ending For Sophia | This is not a great film , but it's enough of a curious film to merit watching . The story deals with a wife who loathes her husband ( Anthony Perkins ) and thinks him dead . If it is true she is well rid of him . It is not true , and he forces her to go through a life insurance swindle ( for a big paying policy on his... |
491,625 | 3,280,905 | 56,940 | 6 | A Prototype For Neil Simon | If you look carefully at " Come Blow Your Horn " you will see it is a two set play that was expanded for this funny movie version . The two sets are the home of Mr . and Mrs . Baker and Buddy in Yonkers , and the apartment used by the older Baker boy Alan as his swinging singles pad . Most of the film is concentrated i... |
493,220 | 3,280,905 | 45,092 | 6 | Seen Once Years Ago - But Memory of it is Oddly Warm | It is curious when one recalls a mood in a movie , and one or two moments that seem to raise it above the average . Such was the case of THE RINGER which I saw over 20 years ago on Channel 9 in New York . One summer , for the entire month of August , Channel 9 just ran British films . Many were very effective crime dra... |
492,666 | 3,280,905 | 22,402 | 6 | Score another one from " You Tube " , but not as good as it could have been | This is another film where you get some kind of trivia question that seems unusual : Name the film that had a cast including Norma Shearer , Joan Crawford , Loretta Young , Barbara Stanwyck , Irene Dunne , Hedda Hopper , Fay Wray , Polly Moran , Maurice Chevalier , William Haines , Wallace Beery , Gary Cooper , Edward ... |
493,006 | 3,280,905 | 53,044 | 6 | The Colonial Problem of Great Britain In The 1950s | CARLETON-BROWNE OF THE F . O . used to appear with some regularity in the New York metropolitan television area of the 1960s , but it was called " THE MAN IN THE COCKED HAT " . This was not unusual . The comedy " THE NAKED TRUTH " was called " YOUR PAST IS SHOWING " . I saw it twice back then , and remember a few point... |
492,724 | 3,280,905 | 64,621 | 6 | Answer to a trivia question - mixed results as a film | Question : In 1943 what movie starred Katherine Hepburn , Katherine Cornell , and Harpo Marx ? ANSWER : STAGE DOOR CANTEEN Question : In 1969 what movie starred Katherine Hepburn , Dame Edith Evans , and Danny Kaye ? ANSWER : THE MADWOMAN OF CHAILLOTOdd that Kate Hepburn should pop up in two unfair trivia questions , b... |
493,331 | 3,280,905 | 155,781 | 6 | George F . Kaufman's hate of musical comedy | George F . Kaufman is probably the greatest collaborator dramatist in American theatrical history . Best recalled for his collaborations with Moss Hart ( YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU ; ONCE IN A LIFETIME ; THE MAN WHO CAME TO DINNER ) , he also collaborated with Edna Ferber ( STAGEDOOR ) , Morris Ryskind ( THE COCONUTS )... |
492,271 | 3,280,905 | 64,688 | 6 | That First Monte Carlo Rally - 1924 | It tries hard , and it has some energy from a few of the stars in it , but MONTY CARLO OR BUST lacks the verve of it's predecessors , THOSE MAGNIFICENT MEN IN THEIR FLYING MACHINES and THE GREAT RACE , and some of the goofiness of it's less remembered successor , ROCKET TO THE MOON . It may be the script , which lags a... |
492,330 | 3,280,905 | 184,871 | 6 | A Set of Bad Baronets | Following the great success of their masterpiece THE MIKADO ( see TOPSY - TURVEY ) William Schwenck Gilbert and Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan had time on their hands - THE MIKADO ran for almost two years , their longest hit . It was not until 1887 that Richard D'Oyly Carte felt it necessary to discuss their next producti... |
493,427 | 3,280,905 | 93,877 | 6 | One interesting innovation only | There is only one aspect of this remake of the Gregory Peck - Audrey Hepburn classic that remains of interest . The father of the Princess appears in the remake . The King ( Paul Daneman ) comes to Rome with the plane that contains all the secret agents sent to find the Princess , and we see the King talking to the amb... |
492,787 | 3,280,905 | 47,191 | 6 | The Best Known of the Lucy - Desi films | Mildly amusing , THE LONG , LONG TRAILER is the film with Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz that most people recall if they think of the films they did together . That is not because their films were remarkable ( they are entertaining to an extent ) but because they only made three films together ( TOO MANY GIRLS , FOREVER D... |
491,796 | 3,280,905 | 45,259 | 6 | E . C . Bentley's Mystery Classic - a Mediocre film | When TRENT'S LAST CASE first appeared in 1913 it shook up the detective mystery reading public because of the " daring " of the author's approach to the style of the novel . Up to then you had the classic straightforward mystery story from Poe to Collins to Conan Doyle , wherein you have a person who is confronted by a... |
493,418 | 3,280,905 | 24,561 | 6 | Rather Strange Story Line | They try , but for a short film made on a shoestring it shows it . Trying to gain some mileage from the big sleeper hit of 1931 , THE SIN OF MADELON CLAUDET , which won an Oscar for Helen Hayes , and to use the novel narrative style of THE POWER AND THE GLORY , THE SIN OF NORA MORAN has neither a major studio backing i... |
492,164 | 3,280,905 | 17,967 | 6 | The " Reconstructed " HAT'S OFF on You Tube | About two years ago there was a special shown on Halloween Night on Turner Classic Movie channel about a " reconstruction " job on the film London AFTER MIDNIGHT with Lon Chaney Sr . That silent film is unfortunately lost ( the last known copy having been destroyed in a fire in the 1960s ) . Using the script , still ph... |
491,754 | 3,280,905 | 646,185 | 6 | The original stories were better . | By the time the Jeremy Brett series of Sherlock Holmes adaptations reached THE MAZARIN STONE , Brett's health was declining very swiftly , and the writers attempted to shore up the series by expanding the role of Charles Gray , as Sherlock's older brother Mycroft . It was an interesting experiment , which the performan... |
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