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492,097 | 3,280,905 | 47,956 | 7 | The Court Martial of an Aviation Visionary | In 1925 the U . S . Naval Air Force's major new piece of military hardware was a zeppelin that had been built in Germany at the end of the First World War , which was given to the U . S as a reparation , and renamed the U . S . S . Shenandoah . The craft had a crack team running it , and it had an excellent head , Comm... |
492,611 | 3,280,905 | 21,593 | 7 | A hint ( momentarily ) of Ollie in Grady | There is a mistake in the casting notice for this short , part of " The Boy Friends " Series , on this thread . Charlie Hall is not a painter , but is a successful glider flyer . He does get dosed , in the course of the last half of the film , with paint several times , but he is not a painter himself . The boys and th... |
492,455 | 3,280,905 | 283,678 | 7 | Less than meets the eye | I'm giving this short subject a few points more than it deserves , because there are some faces in it that one rarely if ever saw or heard in early talkies . Among them are Broadway stars Otis Skinner ( see OUR HEARTS WERE YOUNG AND GAY and KISMET ) , and Marilyn Miller , as well as young Richard Rodgers , Lorenz Hart ... |
492,830 | 3,280,905 | 66,448 | 7 | The Judgment of Paris | This is an interesting black comedy , from Joseph Mankiewicz , about the gullibility of man , and how greed can corrupt anyone . Henry Fonda is a lawman , in typical Fonda-style ( before WARLOCK and the spaghetti westerns changed his image ) . He is a firm support for law and order . However , he has been shot and left... |
492,258 | 3,280,905 | 58,981 | 7 | Jerry as a " second banana " again - briefly | Farce is tricky - you need a good cast who are directed to be fast at split second timing , so that the appearance of people just missing each other add to the hilarity . It also depends on translation or state of the script . BOEING ( 707 ) BOEING ( 707 ) is a French farce that became a hit there and then in Great Bri... |
491,894 | 3,280,905 | 359,596 | 7 | Pete Smith makes a turkey out of a Foodlebean | Pete Smith's shorts are usually amusing - occasionally they are really funny ( particularly the ones starring Dave O'Brien - best remembered for being turned into a homicidal maniac in REEFER MADNESS ) . Smith's delivery is a little bit a trial after awhile - he had this nasal voice which made him sound like a wise-guy... |
492,374 | 3,280,905 | 39,242 | 7 | You Will Shun Him . | Captain Charles Cunningham Boycott is one of those figures in history who by their careers or actions actually contributed to our language - usually without thinking about it . Lord Cardigan , who led the charge of the Light Brigade in the Crimean War , wore a tight sweater which still bears his name . Lord Brougham , ... |
491,971 | 3,280,905 | 50,208 | 7 | Clifton Webb's Last ( and Luckiest ) Bad Guy | An average adventure film , it is easy to say what is good about BOY ON A DOLPHIN : the scenery of Greece is wonderful , the music and dance numbers interesting ( the first Greek dances I suspect in a major production film prior to NEVER ON Sunday ) , and the pleasures of looking at the young , vibrant Sophia Loren . T... |
491,709 | 3,280,905 | 41,610 | 7 | The Root of All Evil | The " Lost Dutchman " Gold Mine has entered American folklore as one of those unattainable , and menacing , treasures . Supposedly Jacob Walz found it in the Superstition Mountains of Arizona , and died without ever revealing fully it's location . At least a dozen people have died violently searching for it . Therefore... |
491,640 | 3,280,905 | 47,349 | 7 | Made For Each Other | It is not the greatest comedy in the world , nor the greatest film of either it's two stars ( nor it's two lead supporting players ) , nor the best film it's two stars made together , nor the best film script of George Axelrod . But PHFFFT is a good comedy about marriage and divorce , and in it's point of view resemble... |
491,960 | 3,280,905 | 45,156 | 7 | Odd type of comic modern western - love story | This odd film was shown at the dinner hour tonight . Odd because it works but it is quite disparate in it's plot lines . Carleton Carpenter ( who normally appeared in MGM musicals ) is Harlan , a would - be rodeo cowboy , attending a rodeo in Las Vegas . He has been brought up in Kansas , and one of the girls he grew u... |
491,699 | 3,280,905 | 60,682 | 7 | Another Vague Memory of Long Ago Television Viewing | I have to admit that writing this review of THE MAYFLY AND THE FROG is a bit odd for several reasons . First , I note that it is the first review of this production ( and I hope is stimulates some better ones if it is read by people who recall the production ) . Second , my memories of the play are very slight . And I ... |
492,014 | 3,280,905 | 43,476 | 7 | What to Look For | The post - Marx Brothers films of Groucho are somewhat astounding because of their mediocrity or worse . Groucho appeared in the late 1940s in four films : COPACABANA , DOUBLE DYNAMITE , A GIRL IN EVERY PORT , MR . MUSIC . He would subsequently appear alone in WILL SUCCESS SPOIL ROCK HUNTER , and finally made SKIDOO . ... |
493,409 | 3,280,905 | 637,528 | 7 | Two Red Heads Get Together | In the late 1940s Red Skelton's movie career was going strong - he was the star of several good comedies ( that remain funny ) , mostly aided by the advice and part direction of Buster Keaton . Among these films was THE FULLER BRUSH MAN , a comedy thriller that is still hysterical at times . It was so successful that i... |
491,973 | 3,280,905 | 596,251 | 7 | Sgt . Bilko visits the Cunninghams | In the last years of HAPPY DAYS there was a tendency to try to expand the show's stories by looking closer at the subsidiary characters . For instance there was an episode when Potsie Webber ( Anson Williams ) is having problems with his biology course , and has to pass the final examination ( which he does by learning... |
492,019 | 3,280,905 | 14,811 | 7 | Before Betty Boop And Popeye | Max Fleischer's cartoons in the 1920s centered around the antics of a clown named Koko . The clown was seen to emerge from the ink in a freshly dipped pen being applied by Fleischer to the pad on his easel . Hence the name of the series : " OUT OF THE INKWELL " . Then , with a total ease of control , Fleischer would pu... |
492,930 | 3,280,905 | 56,943 | 7 | Mr . Gillie and his employer . | This film is the comic version of " The Bodysnatcher " or " Mania " . It's Burke and Hare with a sense of humor . Vincent Price actually made quite a number of film comedies , such as " Champagne for Caesar " . He is actually quite good in using his normal menace and meanness for comic affect . He is Mr . Trumbull , th... |
491,713 | 3,280,905 | 39,595 | 7 | The only film I know of based on a classic sociology study | Magic Town is a film about something that we nowadays take as normal but which was a novelty in 1947 . It was about the new " science " of public opinion polling . This was only understood poorly and not only by the public but by those who actually mattered : the politicians who would grow to need them . In 1936 the ... |
493,256 | 3,280,905 | 508,336 | 7 | The Only Time Vincent Price was Directed by Alfred Hitchcock | This is one of the twenty or so episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents that Hitch himself directed . It is not as well regarded as some of the others ( and one can see why after watching it for awhile ) , but it is historically interesting . Hitchcock directed many fine actors in his career , and such excellent heavies ... |
493,194 | 3,280,905 | 657,050 | 7 | Where the mystery is not who killed who but what is going on . | Tony Franciosa had been one of the stars of THE NAME OF THE GAME as the investigative reporter , but in 1970 he was fired from the series . His role went to a series of actors as other reporters for the magazine owned by Gene Barry and edited by Robert Stack . Here it was Clu Gallagher . He is assigned to an article in... |
492,231 | 3,280,905 | 45,109 | 7 | From the Wrong Side of Town to Wealth | Jennifer Jones had different types of roles in the films her husband David O . Selznick made . She's a dutiful daughter in SINCE YOU WENT AWAY . She is a simple , holy young woman - destined for religious greatness , in SONG OF BERNADETTE . She is one of a pair of twisted , oversexed , mutually doomed lovers in DUEL IN... |
493,372 | 3,280,905 | 609,447 | 7 | Briefly recalled - But not too many details . | I am giving this particular episode of I SPY a " 7 " but it is for two reasons which may seem a trifle frivolous , but which I feel rather serious enough about to mention . Jim Backus and Gene Hackman both had roles in this particular episode . It was not a comic episode either . Hackman played the villain , a man with... |
492,449 | 3,280,905 | 531,303 | 7 | Interesting episode on a long-ago Western | The series BRANDED was the last television series that Chuck Connors starred in . Like his better remembered THE RIFLEMAN he was portraying a figure from the West . Unlike his earlier hero , Lucas McCord in BRANDED was facing a universal wave of dislike . Basically McCord is a clone of Major Marcus Reno of the Battle o... |
493,060 | 3,280,905 | 35,793 | 7 | A Troubled Alliance in Wartime | I mentioned when reviewing THE LIFE AND DEATH OF COLONEL BLIMP that David Low played no favorites with his cartoons . In the 1930s he attacked all the great dictators ( Hitler , Mussolini , Franco , and Stalin ) . He also found his reactionary Colonel useful to attack any other types of reactionaries . In 1941 , after ... |
492,321 | 3,280,905 | 30,151 | 7 | Paging Ivy Lee ? | There seem to be certain rules about " madcap comedy " in the 1930s . It had to center around the idle rich and newspapers frequently played an important part in the story lines . . . oh yes , and Walter Connolly had to be the rich millionaire father who is bedeviled by the antics of the people around him , be they his... |
491,977 | 3,280,905 | 60,794 | 7 | Evil in a Transylvanian Village without Vlad the Impaler | KILL BABY KILL ( the English name for OPERAZIONE PAURA ) has gotten a pretty nice reputation over the years as more thoughtful and better produced than most horror films . There is a bit of exaggeration here regarding that - but the film is good enough to merit praise for it's finer qualities . The story follows the ar... |
492,836 | 3,280,905 | 33,606 | 7 | Possibly the Best film set in old New Orleans | This is not a great film but it is entertaining and frothy . Rene Clair , like Jean Renoir , fled France for the United States and made movies in Hollywood . But Renoir concentrated on serious films , like " This Land is Mine " and " The Southerner " . Clair made comedies , of which this and " I Married a Witch " were ... |
493,435 | 3,280,905 | 871,426 | 7 | Superior nice girl - buddy film | The summer of 2008 is going to be recalled for the nomination of the first African American candidate for the Presidency with a serious chance of winning that office on a major party ticket ( and , as we know , he did win ) . It is also going to be recalled for one of the most questionable choices in American political... |
493,354 | 3,280,905 | 113,228 | 7 | Our Second Visit to Wabasha , Minnesota | Sequels are rarely half as good as the original film . Matthau and Lennon would prove this at the tale end of their film partnership with THE ODD COUPLE PART II . But it has happened . ANOTHER THIN MAN is as good a film as THE THIN MAN . Vincent Minelli's follow up to FATHER OF THE BRIDE may lack the satire of weddings... |
491,644 | 3,280,905 | 39,429 | 7 | A Travelog - joke cartoon about California - and a singalong rap-up ! | It was a simpler time in the late 1940s . When you saw a full day at the movies , it included the cartoon as well as feature , second feature , and short subjects . One of the items was the cartoon , and frequently they included audience participation . Paramount did this with it's " Follow the Bouncing Ball " series .... |
491,601 | 3,280,905 | 39,482 | 7 | Whatever happened to those great criminals and thugs of the 1920s ? | I like I WALK ALONE . It is an interesting example of film noir , but it also has curious slants of it's own . It is also one of the first pairings of Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster in film . Douglas and Lancaster were so well balanced in their movies that they were interchangeable . While in most of them they were al... |
491,770 | 3,280,905 | 508,249 | 7 | The Ultimate Gourmet Story | Robert Morley was ( in his best years ) a very talented actor in both drama and comedy - his comic performances being best remembered ( " Topkapi " , " Murder At The Galop " , " The Battle Of The Sexes ) but his dramatic work should not to be sneezed at ( " An Outcast Of The Islands " , " Oscar Wilde " , " Nine Hours T... |
493,026 | 3,280,905 | 62,490 | 7 | Funny and a lesson about the value of paper money | This film and " The Busy Body " are the two forgotten comic gems of the 1960s in that genre of films where all the prominent comedians appeared together . We recall " It's a Mad , Mad , Mad , Mad World " , " The Russians Are Coming , The Russians Are Coming ? " , " Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines " , " M... |
492,213 | 3,280,905 | 366,679 | 7 | What happened to the Prince ? | I happened to see this episode of the " HISTORICAL MYSTERIES " series narrated by Carey Wilson , because it was tacked into one of the middle 1950s " MGM ON PARADE " ( 1955 ) series , between a scene from " ANCHORS AWEIGH ( in black and white - but it was of Gene Kelly dancing with Jerry the Mouse ) , and Dore Schary a... |
491,793 | 3,280,905 | 41,361 | 7 | Good , enjoyable film , but too much plotting | People thinking of the historical record of the United States ( prior to the controversy of the current Iraqi War ) frequently overlook one peculiar diplomatic lapse . From 1812 to 1815 we were allied with Napoleon Bonaparte , at least unofficially . President Madison's decision to declare war on Great Britain in 1812 ... |
493,053 | 3,280,905 | 14,624 | 7 | Whatever Happened To Marie St . Clare ? | In the 1920s Charlie Chaplin tried to break away from his double dependence on the " little tramp " and comedy . His first attempt ( still a comedy ) was " The Kid " , where he made Jackie Coogan an equal in the film ( althought Chaplin did get higher billing ) . Then he thought ( quite seriously ) of starring in a fil... |
493,348 | 3,280,905 | 89,529 | 7 | Two pros in clover | This film came and went too quickly in 1985 , but I was fortunate enough to see it in a movie theater at the time , and later to get the video of it . Jack Lemmon is an American business executive on a business trip to Naples ( where he was stationed in World War II ) . He is a crabby , middle aged man , who has financ... |
491,773 | 3,280,905 | 508,196 | 7 | A Piece of Dahlist Macabre | To most movie fans , Roald Dahl is best recalled for the children's classic CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY , which was made into two films . But in the 1950s on ALFRED HITCHCOCK and on other television shows Dahl's cynical and ironical style of humor came up again and again on the air to widespread popular acclaim .... |
493,432 | 3,280,905 | 27,840 | 7 | Finally I see Patsy's first Starring role | Because he is associated with Laurel & Hardy , Harold Lloyd , and Charlie Chase , and later the Little Rascals , Hal Roach's work with Patsy Kelly ( with or without Thelma Todd or Lyda Roberti or Zazu Pitts ) is somehow ignored . Roach was pretty good at sizing up his comic talent and balancing it - and his Kelly / Tod... |
492,371 | 3,280,905 | 33,766 | 7 | A Nice Little Comedy for Laughton , Durbin , and Cummings | Charles Laughton had a personality that was totally dominating , as one can see in his greatest performances as Henry VIII , Captain Bligh , Quasimodo , Sir Wilfred Robards , Henry Horatio Hobson . But he knew ( for the most part ) when to control his more hammy moments . It is unfair to compare him with his sometime c... |
492,892 | 3,280,905 | 37,610 | 7 | Spain's Agony , and Britain's Indifference to Danger | It could have been a better film . It does drag at points , and the central story shifts from Boyer completing his mission to Boyer avenging Wanda Hendrix's death , but Graham Greene is an author who is really hard to spoil . His stories are all morality tales , due to his own considerations of Catholicism , guilt and ... |
492,882 | 3,280,905 | 252,147 | 7 | The Completed Magnificent Ambersons | This version appeared on television three years ago , and was supposedly based on Welles ' completed script . It got roasted by the television critics ( probably unfairly ) because it wasn't directed by Welles - lacking his great narration and touches . But it is not a bad film , and it does have a coherence that the o... |
492,748 | 3,280,905 | 748,511 | 7 | The Steam driven " Wheel Chair " | I enjoyed watching THE WILD WILD WEST because of the crazy 19th Century versions of 20th Century devices that were constantly being thought up . 19th Century technology was nothing to sneeze at , with steam driven railroads , ocean liners , telegraphs , telephones , electric lights , and phonographs . Yet THE WILD WILD... |
492,782 | 3,280,905 | 29,864 | 7 | Bogart Burning and Biding his time , while Robinson is a Gentleman | As was pointed out in another review , THE AMAZING DR . CLITTERHOUSE was a play , originally , starring Sir Cedric Hardwicke as the polished society doctor who is writing a book on the criminal mind , and needs to become a criminal to get his research . I would have liked to have seen the film with Hardwicke , who prob... |
492,101 | 3,280,905 | 39,819 | 7 | The Suffrage Movement : 1875 - Boston | Because of the prominence of the abolition movement in the 1830s - 1860s , other American social movements of the day are not thought of very much . If you are interested , read Tyler's book FREEDOM'S FERMENT , which discusses the international peace movement , woman's rights , and other movements of equal interest in ... |
492,567 | 3,280,905 | 71,870 | 7 | One version on video that I saw live on stage . | MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING is considered by Shakespearean Scholars to be one of three plays call the " Joyous Comedies " . The other two are AS YOU LIKE IT and TWELFTH NIGHT , and the subject of them is either joy of living or love . They are considered a high point in Shakespeare's development as an artist on par with his... |
492,100 | 3,280,905 | 60,424 | 7 | The First Successful Comedy Teaming For Movies Since Martin and Lewis : A Possible Suggestion on Origins | When THE FORTUNE COOKIE came out in 1965 it proved a remarkably successful comedy . Of course it was directed by Billy Wilder , still at or near the height of his film career with a string of great successes from THE MAJOR AND THE MINOR , THE LOST WEEKEND , and SUNSET BOULDVARD through SOME LIKE IT HOT and THE APARTMEN... |
492,777 | 3,280,905 | 27,948 | 7 | The Queen Who Was Too Contrary - And What Happened at Kirk'a'Field ? | Brooks Atkinson was a first rate drama critic for the New York Times . He had blind spots . He over enthused on the career of Maxwell Anderson . Anderson wrote some good plays such as " Winterset " , but Anderson was enthusiastic of Anderson's pompous attempts to do dramas in blank verse : " Mary Of Scotland " , " Eliz... |
492,653 | 3,280,905 | 24,188 | 7 | The Head of the House of Pain | It's a good story , based on one of Wells ' best science fiction novels , but ISLAND OF LOST SOULS never has gotten the kudos that it's fellow science fiction and horror tales of the early 1930s got . For all it's flaws , Dracula ( Bela Lugosi's version ) remains a classic , and the Spanish / Mexican / American version... |
491,772 | 3,280,905 | 508,127 | 7 | Hitch's salute to Crowsborough | In his career as a film director Alfred Hitchcock frequently turned to real life crime for his stories . The Crippen Case is suggested in REAR WINDOW , in the murder of Mrs . Thorwall by her husband , who claims his wife has gone on a trip . In the first version of THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH he brings up the 1910 Siege ... |
492,708 | 3,280,905 | 785,362 | 7 | The Follow-up of " The Blue Cross " | When you see the Alec Guiness film THE DETECTIVE , the basis for that film is THE BLUE CROSS , the first story G . K . Chesterson wrote about his detective " Father Brown " . That story was about the attempt by a master thief named Flambeau to steal a very rare and valuable religious item . It is being handled and prot... |
492,989 | 3,280,905 | 35,460 | 7 | Steinbeck's Latinos | There is no denying that the man who gave us THE GRAPES OF WRATH , OF MICE AND MEN , and EAST OF EDEN is a major literary figure - one of the handful of American literary figures to win the Nobel Prize for Literature . But John Steinbeck was also a man of his time and some of his time is hard to swallow . This is parti... |
492,162 | 3,280,905 | 27,963 | 7 | Another Disney Celebrity Caricature Cartoon | The cartoon is fairly amusing , but nothing notable by itself . In the 1930s there was a serious polo playing group out of the Hollywood movie set . It included Walt Disney ( it also included Spencer Tracy , of all people , and Will Rogers ) . Odd that such a kind of upper class sport became so popular in the movie col... |
492,863 | 3,280,905 | 27,959 | 7 | Much Ado About An Invitation To A Meeting | In the middle of the Spanish American War , an American newspaper editor and writer ( and self-proclaimed Bohemian ) named Elbert Hubbard wrote a brief essay that would sweep the country in ways only reminiscent to Tom Paine's " Common Sense " ( or his " The Crisis " ) , Harriet Beecher Stowe's " Uncle Tom's Cabin " , ... |
491,656 | 3,280,905 | 47,580 | 7 | Romance in the age of President Eisenhower | Let us say this - the film is an eye-filler . Cinemascope was just starting and the use of the city of Rome as a backdrop was an excellent one . One only wishes a more charming and better film ( such as ROMAN HOLIDAY ) had been the first to use it , but that film was shot in black and white , and not in a big screen fo... |
492,168 | 3,280,905 | 74,588 | 7 | Robert Culp and the Perils of Prosperity | It's not a great comedy , but THE GREAT SCOUT AND CATHOUSE THURSDAY is a spoof western that plays around with such themes as settling long standing scores and recapturing a lost love from youth . In the proper hands mighty great tragedies of loss of innocence or happiness have been built on such themes like THE SEARCHE... |
492,472 | 3,280,905 | 85,279 | 7 | The Hero of the Amsterdam Olympics . . . . | This film came out in 1983 and got pounded by the critics , but was actually quite amusing . It was spoofing " Sapper " ' s BULLDOG DRUMMOND stories , about the super-hero of Britain post World War I . Facing his version of " Carl Peterson " or " Dr . Lakington " in Otto Von Bruno ( an unreconstructed German warrior fr... |
492,166 | 3,280,905 | 50,861 | 7 | Charming Tragi - Comedy , but a minor one | This is one of those movies where the set pace of events are known to the audience , so that when it reaches it's conclusion we are aware that what we ( the audience ) might wish can happen for the two leads is not going to be possible . It is 1911 , and we are in London for the coronation week of King George V and his... |
492,719 | 3,280,905 | 507,818 | 7 | Protection From One Step Beyond | In several of the episodes of ONE STEP BEYOND , circumstances , or forces that we know little about , come up to right wrongs or punish wrongdoers . I described one episode the other day where Donald Pleasance willfully allows an innocent man to die for the sake of his own legal career , and subsequently , when on the ... |
492,860 | 3,280,905 | 40,976 | 7 | Our Funny Valentine | Like most biographies of musicians or lyricists WORDS AND MUSIC is great as a showcase of the music , but a bent synopsis of the life story . It's of a piece with films as diverse as A SONG TO REMEMBER about Chopin , YANKEE DOODLE DANDY about Cohan , NIGHT AND DAY about Cole Porter , or STARS AND STRIPES FOREVER about ... |
492,718 | 3,280,905 | 507,813 | 7 | And Farmers Said That at 10 : 00 P . M . the Moon turned Red | I mentioned this episode in passing in my general review of ONE STEP BEYOND . The death of Abraham Lincoln has bred an entire mythology of it's own , due to the reverence felt towards the 16th President , and even shared ( ironically ) by his killer John Wilkes Booth . A good place to start studying it is in JIM BISHOP... |
493,335 | 3,280,905 | 26,104 | 7 | Great Victorian Novel becomes Interesting Looking But Weak Film | Because of the overwhelming success of his novels , people still read Charles Dickens . If you poled people who like to read classic novels , you would find most people read Dickens , Emily and Charlotte Bronte , and Anthony Trollope most among the " high Victorian " novelists ( those from 1830 - 1882 ) . This cuts out... |
492,614 | 3,280,905 | 507,796 | 7 | Washington's Vision ? | The actor Robert Douglas was one of those sort of " elite " type villains - George MacDonald Fraser calls them the men of the " sibilant " ess " " because of the way they pronounce words with a soft but sharp " ess " - like Henry Daniell , George Zucco , George Coulouris , George Macready , and Lionel Atwill ( one coul... |
492,120 | 3,280,905 | 45,325 | 7 | Once in Love With Raymond | Ray Bolger's career in movies has a passing resemblance to another performer who did not quite fit in , but who achieved stardom through a back door of sorts : Robert Preston . If one looks at the credits of both men most of their films are quite forgettable , but their musical work lifts them . Yet Bolger , although r... |
492,615 | 3,280,905 | 507,789 | 7 | The Face on the Wall ? | This was another well acted episode of ONE STEP BEYOND , dealing with the slow undoing of a perfect crime committed by an aristocrat . In all my reading of criminal history I have not come across this particular story - so I tend to doubt it happened . But it was interesting in it's way , and Max Adrian gave a nice per... |
491,769 | 3,280,905 | 52,744 | 7 | Shaw , the Medical Profession , and the Limits of Self-Satisfied Criticism | When one talks of Bernard Shaw's best plays , one thinks of those plays he wrote from MRS . WARREN'S PROFESSION ( 1895 ) to ST . JOAN ( 1923 ) , with a nod at THE APPLE CART ( 1930 ) and TOO TRUE TO BE GOOD ( 1932 ) . After 1923 there is a slackening in his creativity - the plays become impossible for one reason or ano... |
492,219 | 3,280,905 | 60,520 | 7 | The Difficulty of Adapting Georges Feydeau | Farces are made in the dramas of all countries , but they are usually the most difficult things to push from one state to another . Language is the chief problem , but also there is the issue of what one country considers a farce as opposed to another . Britain's best known farce ( that remains in repertoire ) is Brand... |
493,262 | 3,280,905 | 29,912 | 7 | Mitchell Leisin's Nightmare Musical | Successful journeyman director with taste , Mitchell Leisin was responsible for many films of distinction like DEATH TAKES A HOLIDAY , KITTY , HOLD BACK THE DAWN , and TO EACH HIS OWN . But he had to do many films that annoyed him for one reason or another . Occasionally a film he put a lot of time and effort into ( LA... |
493,346 | 3,280,905 | 33,365 | 7 | Dated self sacrifice , but well acted | This film ( based on a Fanny Hurst best seller ) is way out of date in the modern age . No self-respecting woman would be so willing to sacrifice her career for the prospect of being a millionaire's kept woman . No man , seriously in love with any woman , would put them through such a demeaning situation ( they would c... |
493,312 | 3,280,905 | 507,780 | 7 | An Explosion ( West of Java ) To Remember ? | I really liked this series , but I had a little trouble with this episode - well acted and with some point that it merits a " 7 " , but which I have never seen any verification about . Supposedly , on the morning of August 25 , 1883 , a newspaper reporter in Boston named Henry Soames , when preparing to go to work , su... |
492,209 | 3,280,905 | 550,300 | 7 | A National Scandal Connected With A National Treasure | The success of the series of novels by Peter Lovesey regarding the hard working 19th Century Scotland Yard Detective Sgt . Cribb ( Alan Dobie ) and his " Watson " Constable Thackeray ( William Simmons ) led to the series of television versions of the novels that appeared ( in the U . S . ) as part of the " Mystery " se... |
492,033 | 3,280,905 | 550,293 | 7 | A Trip to a Victorian Vacation Spot | MAD HATTER'S HOLIDAY is a novel set in Brighton , England in 1882 . Cribb and Thackeray are sent to investigate reports sent to Scotland Yard by one Albert Moscrop ( Derek Fowldes ) , a hatter who is on vacation and has seen some odd doings regarding a possible murder . A woman may have been killed - Moscrop observed i... |
492,206 | 3,280,905 | 550,292 | 7 | Based on Holland's " Fenian Ram " | This entry in the series of Sergeant Cribb stories into television episodes is based on the novel of the same name . Set in 1885 , it deals with two incidents that were interconnected , and centered on Irish independence . During the 1860s , James Stephen founded the Irish Brotherhood , better known today as " the Feni... |
492,746 | 3,280,905 | 550,295 | 7 | What marriage costs a young woman | SOMETHING OLD , SOMETHING NEW was another of the episodes of the " Sgt . Cribb " series that Peter Lovesey and his wife wrote specifically for the show , and not originally as a novel about the Victorian sleuth and Constable Thackeray . It had a very effective conclusion - one of the best ones in the series . Henry Rus... |
492,017 | 3,280,905 | 57,284 | 7 | Kaye's Final Feature Film Starring Role | THE MAN FROM THE DINER'S CLUB is not Danny Kaye's best film by any stretch , but it has it's moments . Kaye is a member of the staff of the local office of the Diner's Club , and has several things against him . He is a stumble-bum type , frequently causing trouble for fellow employees . There is a running gag with Ann... |
492,980 | 3,280,905 | 507,774 | 7 | Be Careful About What You Wish For ? | The story line in this episode of ONE STEP BEYOND is actually fairly straightforward . It deals with a curse on a Scotish noble family , the House of Culdane . In the 16th Century , the head of the house ( Torin Thatcher ) confronts his heir on an issue of personal courage , and says that the young man's failure to sho... |
493,105 | 3,280,905 | 550,289 | 7 | The Spiritualism Racket in Victorian England | This episode of the SGT . CRIBB series was based on one of Peter Lovesey's actual novels about the Sgt . and Constable Thackeray . But in this episode , the role of their boss , Chief Inspector Jowitt , was not played by David Waller but by Thorley Waters . It was the only time Waters took Waller's role in the televisi... |
492,035 | 3,280,905 | 550,291 | 7 | When nobody is cooperating | Captain Allbright , a wealthy landowner , has died under mysterious circumstances . He appears to have fled his home in the middle of the night , blindly running through the local woods , and fell to his death in a large stone and gravel pit . There are no signs of violence on his body , aside from the injuries sustain... |
492,427 | 3,280,905 | 460,175 | 7 | Another Funny ( if Dated ) Pollard Comedy on " YOU TUBE " | While not as funny as IT'S A GIFT , this Snub Pollard comedy has a build-up to a chase based on fears of ghosts . It just works - hurt only by some 1920 racist humor at the expense of African-Americans ( as servants ) . Snub is getting married and a rival decides to ruin the marriage on the wedding night in revenge . F... |
492,829 | 3,280,905 | 67,877 | 7 | A Forgotten 19th Century English Dramatic Giant | In 1972 there was a British series that was shown ( and has not been shown since ) of plays and dramatizations every month . They were well produced , and acted . I now recall two of them : this play and a dramatization of Voltaire's CANDIDE ( which had Frank Finlay as the narrator - actually Voltaire himself - and man... |
493,355 | 3,280,905 | 89,310 | 7 | The Kingfish , Warts and Glory | Huey Pierce Long never became President of the United States . He hoped to , and ( probably for the best ) a gunshot stopped him . I say probably because there is considerable debate over him to this day . If you love democracy , with a balance of power approach as in the Federal Constitution ( or the states for that m... |
491,821 | 3,280,905 | 28,097 | 7 | Love in Labrador | The Turner Classic Movie Channel has spent the month of January doing the films of one of my favorite actors , Robert Montgomery . His films are mostly rarely watched these days , except for those that were atypical for most of his career - meaning that the roles that frequently reappear on television are THEY WERE EXP... |
493,431 | 3,280,905 | 43,030 | 7 | The Musical Whose Origins Boston Erroneously Hates | Before getting into the issues of musical score , cinematography , cast , direction , and storyline , one has to always bring in some baggage with " Tea For Two " ( known on stage as " No No Nanette ! " ) . Supposedly baseball team impresario and theatrical producer Harry Frazee , in an effort to raise the cash for a n... |
492,251 | 3,280,905 | 47,422 | 7 | Monroe's First Western | For some reason this film gets mediocre reviews whenever it is mentioned in some newspaper television sections like The New York Times . I really can't understand why . For while it is not an iconic western , like SHANE or RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY , it has some appealing elements . Marilyn Monroe gets to sing several tune... |
492,519 | 3,280,905 | 28,120 | 7 | First you question my financial resources , then you ask me business advice | No it is not the greatest of W . C . Field's comedies - it does not rank with THE BANK DICK or IT'S A GIFT or THE OLD FASHIONED WAY or even MY LITTLE CHICKADEE . But POPPY is of considerable interests to the many fans of the great misanthropic comic . In 1923 he appeared on stage in POPPY as " EUSTACE McGARGLE " . It w... |
492,568 | 3,280,905 | 552,307 | 7 | An unexpected pleasure - my first " Dad's Army " episode on " You Tube " | I had heard of this series , but I had never seen any episodes . Apparently , although in a different spirit of production , DAD'S ARMY had a popularity in England similar to it's near contemporary M . A . S . H . in the U . S . But the situations in both series are not quite the same . Arthur Lowe's Mainwaring ( for A... |
492,828 | 3,280,905 | 69,839 | 7 | A Pretty Faithful Adaptation of Voltaire's Novel . | This was a monthly episode / dramatization of a series on classic plays and literature . They had also done one of Arthur Pinero's better known plays , TRELAWNEY OF THE WELLS ( which I commented on the other day ) . This was a little more interesting - CANDIDE is a novel ( a small novel , to be accurate ) regarding the... |
492,302 | 3,280,905 | 36,334 | 7 | Daffy and the scrap metal war effort | Another of the long forgotten Warner propaganda cartoons - like THE DUCKTATORS it is black and white , not in color . However , it is more concentrated in story line ( oddly enough ) than THE DUCKTATORS . Daffy is in charge of the scrap metal collection , and has a mountain of tin and iron and copper and the rest ( fro... |
492,410 | 3,280,905 | 29,685 | 7 | After the Revolution - it wasn't peaches and cream ! | This nice little comedy ( based on a French play that Robert Sherwood rewrote ) deals with a matter that was of interest around the entire world after 1917 - 1921 . What happened to the remnants of the Russian aristocracy left in tatters by the hurricane of the Bolshevik Revolution ? The fact was that for most of them ... |
493,405 | 3,280,905 | 31,604 | 7 | A Political Great Impersonation | In 1914 E . Philips Openheim wrote a classic spy thriller ( a timely one too ) about evil agents of Wilhelmine Germany plotting to place a mole in English high society . The plot begins in Africa , where a German aristocrat ( and spy ) named Leopold Von Ragenstein is on safari , and meets an worn out , drunken English ... |
492,072 | 3,280,905 | 454,515 | 7 | Robert Strauss's Last Movie Role | I have only seen the last portion of this film on a cable channel about five or six years back ( I think it was City College's channel , which frequently runs unusual film courses ) . I remember when THE NOAH came out in the middle 1970s . There was a review of it in NEW YORK MAGANZINE , and it got panned . But when it... |
492,018 | 3,280,905 | 20,876 | 7 | Sometimes a formula idea does not work well the second time | The coming of sound is erroneously said to have destroyed the careers of the great silent comedians . Not quite true , though some truth to it . Chaplin did not go fully into sound until 1940 with the generally excellent THE GREAT DICTATOR . Keaton actually went into the sound period with a final great silent film ( TH... |
492,099 | 3,280,905 | 36,342 | 7 | The Problem Of Alfred Hitchcock : A Heretical View | SHADOW OF A DOUBT is not my favorite Hitchcock film . I suspect that STRANGERS ON A TRAIN or THE LADY VANISHES or REAR WINDOW are better films . They seem to be better to me . But SHADOW OF A DOUBT , good film that it is , always disappoints me because of what I term is the problem of Hitchcock . His problem is his ina... |
493,337 | 3,280,905 | 48,801 | 7 | Oh , was it a small , little snake . . . . Don't worry . Your worries will be over soon | I have always liked this whimsical black comedy . It does not take itself too seriously ( unlike the 1989 remake with Sean Penn and Robert Di Niro ) . Humphrey Bogart , Peter Ustinov ( with his pet snake ) , and Aldo Ray escape from Devil's Island , and reach port as the first step to permanent freedom . But they need ... |
491,982 | 3,280,905 | 192,336 | 7 | A Long Forgotten Television Viewing | It is many years since I saw this television show - which was a special done in the U . S . Juliet Mills was hostess , but Michael Redgrave played the part of the ghost or spirit of Charles Dickens , talking about his career and works . Because it is so long ago I really have problems remembering the program , except f... |
493,295 | 3,280,905 | 29,626 | 7 | Supposedly One of Leisin's Best films | I first came across this film when I read a book ( written in the 1970s ) about the career of Mitchell Leisin . I have to admit that over the years I have watched many of his films and find his best work really high quality . SWING HIGH , SWING LOW was supposed to be one of his best . While it did not bore me , it did ... |
491,882 | 3,280,905 | 36,260 | 7 | A Neat Variation on " The Lady Vanishes " Plot | Alan Curtis has a loud , violent sounding argument with his wife , slams out of his apartment , has a night of drinking with a mysterious lady with a large hat in a bar ( run by Andrew Tombes , in a nice villainous part for a change ) , and returns to find his wife dead and the police , led by Thomas Gomez waiting for ... |
493,098 | 3,280,905 | 44,837 | 7 | Too much talking ! | After reaching a peak among his sound films with MONSIEUR VERDOUX , Chaplin was to wait five years before releasing his last half-way decent feature film , LIMELIGHT . They were increasingly difficult years for Chaplin , as he and the U . S . government grew increasingly distant and strained in their relationship becau... |
492,073 | 3,280,905 | 46,729 | 7 | Cold War Wish Fulfillment and where's the great Mumford when you need him . | Robert Strauss was a remarkably memorable character actor . Although he looked physically threatening , he actually played comic roles more frequently than villains ( and if he played a convict or a hood , it was usually for comic affect ) . His great breakout part was in STALAG 17 , when he was the Betty Grable loving... |
493,114 | 3,280,905 | 748,589 | 7 | When Agnes finally won one | Agnes Moorehead was a pretty terrific actress , and could actually play all types of roles : Charles Foster Kane's self-sacrificing mother , the love-sick and jealous old maid in THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSOMS , the put upon Countess Fosco who finally turns on Sidney Greenstreet in THE WOMAN IN WIFE , the hypocritical socia... |
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