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Re: Movies

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62 - Moontide (1942) - 7/10 - Bobo (Jean Gabin) is a dock worker with no steady home or job. He likes to drink, but often doesn't remember what happened after a bender. He wakes up on a bait barge one morning and is told that he had agreed to run the shop for the owner. Bobo rescues meets Anna (Ida Lupino), a young woman who tries to drown herself and the two hit it off. There are other complications including a search for a murderer and Bobo's parasitic friend Tiny. I thought the movie was decent. It isn't the most exciting film, but it wasn't bad.

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63 - Whoopee! (1930) - 5/10 - A very dated musical comedy starring Eddie Cantor. Sally Morgan doesn't want to marry the sheriff, Bob Wells, like her father wishes. She is in love with half-Native American Wanenis. To escape the marriage, Sally escapes with the unwitting help of Henry WIlliams (Cantor) leading to a posse chasing after them. This is an early technicolor film and some of the songs and dances aren't bad, but the humor and acting especially are dated as are some of the racial stereotypes.

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64 - Back Street (1961) - 7.5/10 - Susan Hayward stars as an aspiring fashion designer who meets a marine (John Gavin) who is traveling through her town of Lincoln, Nebraska on his way home from the service. They start a relationship and are in love, but eventually he has to return home. When she tries to contact him, she discovers that he is married with two children. They meet again some time later and resume their relationship, though she has to take a back seat to his family, even though his marriage is a loveless one. This was a decent melodrama, perhaps slightly better than the 1941 version. I haven't seen the 1932 version with Irene Dunne yet.

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65 - The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977) - 8/10 - I watched this for the Academy Award nominated shorts that make up 2/3 of the movie. I probably haven't watched Winnie the Pooh since the 1970s. These were fun, though.
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66 - The Naked Prey (1965) - 8/10 - A safari in early 1800s Africa is attacked by a group of natives because the members of the safari refused to pay tribute to their chief as they were passing through. The white survivors are tortured and killed in a variety of ways until the only one left is the guide who is set loose naked and given a head start before the hunt begins. Archival and documentary footage is mixed in with the rest of the film to pretty good effect. I thought that the film was pretty well done. There is a lot of great scenery, good action, very little dialogue in English, and good acting. Cornel Wilde starred in and directed the film.

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67 - Prince of Foxes (1949) - 7.5/10 - Tyrone Power stars as Andrea Orsini, an artist and soldier in the employ of Cesare Borgia (Orson Welles) in 1500. He is sent to arrange a marriage between Cesare's recently widowed sister Lucrezia and Alfonso d'Este, the son of the Duke of Ferrara. Orsini's next assignment brings him in contact with Camilla (Wanda Hendrix), the young wife of the elderly Count of a city/fort on top of a mountain. Orsini falls for Camilla which leads to having to decide between her and Borgia for his loyalties. I thought that the cinematography, action, and acting were all pretty good. Welles is convincing as Borgia and Power does a nice job as Orsini. The supporting cast isn't bad either.
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68 - The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1974) - 7.5/10 - Richard Dreyfuss plays Duddy, a young Jewish man growing up in Montreal. His father drives a cab and his older brother is in medical school (with some assistance from a wealthy uncle). Duddy gets a job as a waiter at a summer resort and hustles to make money. He gets it in his head that he wants to buy a nearby lake for the development opportunity and throughout the movie we see his various plans toward that end. He dates a young woman named Yvette (Micheline Lanctôt) and befriends an American named Virgil (Randy Quaid). Duddy's schemes meet with mixed success, but he keeps pushing toward his goal, even occasionally to the detriment of those around him. I thought that it was a pretty good film. It was a bit of a rollercoaster with ups and downs, but always moving forward.

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69 - The Goddess (1958) - 6.5/10 - Kim Stanley stars as a young woman named Emily Ann who grows up with a mother who doesn't love her. Emily Ann doesn't think much of herself and is a loner. Her first marriage doesn't work out and she ends up abandoning her infant daughter to move to Hollywood in search of stardom. She eventually earns that stardom and marries again, but can't find the happiness that she seeks. She suffers from nervous breakdowns and addiction. The movie seems to be loosely based on the life of Marilyn Monroe. I thought that the acting was okay, but kind of overdone at times. It's certainly not a happy film, but overall wasn't too bad. I enjoyed Paddy Chayefsky's other films a lot more, especially Network and Marty.
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70 - Three Smart Girls Grow Up (1939) - 7.5/10 - Eldest sister Joan Craig (Nan Grey) announces her engagement a party. This distresses middle sister Kay (Helen Parrish) who is also in love with Joan's fiance. Youngest sister Penny (Deanna Durbin) finds out Kay's secret and tries to set her up with a man from her music school (Robert Cummings), but things don't go at all as planned. I thought the movie was a lot of fun, though the parents were kind of exasperating through much of the movie because they don't really listen at all to Penny. Charles Winninger was good as the father whose mind is always on business and Cummings was good as Harry. Durbin was good as usual and her singing was on display at various times throughout the film.

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71 - Look for the Silver Lining (1949) - 6.5/10 - June Haver stars as Marilyn Miller, a singer/dancer/actress who was popular on Broadway and vaudeville until her untimely death at age 37. The movie mostly focuses on her life from around age 14-22 after joining her family's act and then becoming a star on her own. The movie was entertaining enough and Haver does a decent job, though I thought that the film seemed to gloss over a number of things and left out quite a bit. Roy Bolger did a decent job as Jack Donahue, a dancer who befriends Marilyn.

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72 - Volver a Empezar (1982) - 7/10 - A Spanish writer who has been living and teaching in San Francisco returns to Spain after winning the Nobel Prize for literature. This is his first visit to Spain since leaving during the Civil War in the 1930s. He is feeling his mortality and wants to revisit the places and people of his youth. There isn't really a lot to this movie, but I liked it quite a bit nonetheless.

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73 - Summer Storm (1944) - 6/10 - In 1919, former Russian Count Volsky (Edward Everett Horton) takes a manuscript to a former acquaintance who now runs a newspaper. The manuscript was written by Volsky's friend, Judge Petroff (George Sanders) and details events from seven years earlier with a peasant woman named Olga (Linda Darnell) and infidelity, theft, plus other assorted crimes. The movie is pretty dull overall, especially Petroff's character. Volsky does liven things up from time to time, though his character isn't especially bright.

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74 - Meteor (1979) - 6.5/10 - Sean Connery stars as a scientist who designed Project Hercules, a secret orbiting nuclear weapon launch platform. He is summoned to Washington, D.C. when a five mile wide meteor is detected heading for Earth. The Soviets have their own secret launch platform and they are needed since Project Hercules isn't enough on its own to stop the meteor. There are lots of long lingering shots of the menacing meteor as it heads for Earth plus many shots of the rockets as they head for the meteor (flying nicely in close formation with US and USSR missiles mixed together). Various disasters on Earth take place as smaller meteors in the debris field strike. It isn't a great disaster film, but overall I enjoyed it. Natalie Wood gets second billing as a Russian interpreter, though I think Karl Malden had more of a role.

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75 - The Goldwyn Follies (1938) - 6.5/10 - Adolphe Menjou is a Hollywood producer whose last couple of films haven't done very well. While filming his next picture, he overhears a young woman named Hazel (Andrea Leeds) and a friend talking about things that are wrong with the scene they witnessed. He hires Hazel and brings her to Hollywood to consult on changes they should make in the picture, though he keeps her away from the actors. There is a lot of singing and dancing plus romance and humor. A lot of the acting bits seem kind of staged, though Hazel comes through as fairly real. The parts with Charlie McCarthy are generally amusing. The Ritz Brothers were mostly annoying, though their last scene wasn't bad. There are some decent songs, but the movie as a whole isn't that great, but it is entertaining enough.
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76 - Lloyds of London (1936) - 8/10 - Freddie Bartholomew stars as Jonathan Blake, boyhood pals with Horatio Nelson. The two discover a plan to defraud those at Lloyds of London by scuttling a ship and claiming the insurance. Jonathan heads to London to warn them and earns a job there as a reward. Tyrone Power takes over as the adult Blake and befriends a woman named Elizabeth (Madeleine Carroll) who is trying to escape from France. This leads to a number of complications as time passes. There is a heavy emphasis on the need to insure ships, even in time of war. Blake also forms a syndicate to do this as well as insuring other things. I thought the movie was very entertaining with nice performances all around. It is clear that Bartholomew’s star power at the time since he received top billing even though he is only in the first 30 minutes of the film. He did a nice job, though.

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77 - Jesus of Montreal (1989) - 8/10 - A talented young actor is brought in to update a Passion Play at a local church. He recruits other talented individuals and puts together an avant-garde production that is critically acclaimed. The actors find themselves changed somewhat as a result of this experience. Conflict with the Catholic Church threatens the continuation of the play. This was very well acted and I thought that the play within the movie was pretty creative as well. Very well done.

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78 - This Above All (1942) - 7/10 - Joan Fontaine stars as Prudence Cathaway, a young aristocrat who joins the WAAF (Women’s Auxiliary Air Force) as a private, rather than using her family’s influence to become an officer. When helping a friend by going on a double date, she meets Clive Briggs (Tyrone Power), a moody man at times who seems to have something bothering him. The two fall in love and start spending what time they can together and eventually Prudence learns what his secret is. I thought that Fontaine was pretty good in her role. Power was perhaps a bit miscast, but did an adequate job. Overall I enjoyed the film, though I wouldn’t rank it near either actor’s best.

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79 - Lillian Russell (1940) - 6/10 - Alice Fay stars in this biography about a singer who was very popular in the late 1800s/early 1900s. I thought that Alice Faye did a decent job, though the movie itself was a bit underwhelming. Henry Fonda was kind of stiff as newspaperman Alexander Moore. Don Ameche wasn’t much better as Lillian’s first husband. It was watchable and the singing was decent, but other than a few humorous bits here and there, it was fairly pedestrian.

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80 - Sweethearts (1938) - 7.5/10 - Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy star as Gwen Marlowe and Ernest Lane, singing partners on the stage and happily married off the stage. Their lives are pretty frantic between their popular Broadway show, radio performances, recording, and other events. Their family and the people involved in the show all place numerous demands on their time so when a man from Hollywood tries to get them to move there, they are interested. The people in the show then plan how to keep them from going. You get a lot of good singing from MacDonald and Eddy as expected. There is a lot of humor here as well and I enjoyed the film quite a bit.

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81 - Fellini’s Casanova (1976) - 2/10 - This is a bizarre and terrible film. It does have some interesting sets, but that’s about it.

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82 - Stand By for Action (1942) - 7.5/10 - Robert Taylor stars as Lieutenant Gregg Masterson, a Harvard educated Naval Reservist who serves as an aide for Admiral Thomas (Charles Laughton). He spends much of his work time on social duties leaving plenty of time to plan tennis or flirt with women. He gets assigned as the XO of a first world war destroyer that has been in mothballs for 20 years, but is reactivated due to the need for ships. His captain (Brian Donlevy) is a man who worked his way up from the ranks during the first world war and later retired, but was recalled to active duty for the second world war. Walter Brennan also has a decent role in the film. After a shakedown cruise, their ship, the USS Warren, is assigned to join a convoy escorting ships to San Francisco. There is plenty of action in the film along with plenty of humor as well. I enjoyed it quite a bit.
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83 - Spawn of the North (1938) - 7/10 - George Raft and Henry Fonda star as childhood friends in Alaska named Tyler and Jim. Tyler returns from up around the Arctic circle with visions of buying a schooner and returning to the north. Jim has a successful fishing boat and while happy to see his old friend, doesn’t want to join Tyler’s operation. Fish pirates who steal fish from other men’s traps are a problem and the fishermen plan to kill any that they find on their traps. Tyler falls in with them as a way to raise money for his schooner and this brings him into conflict with Jim. I thought that Raft and Fonda were both good in this film. I liked Dorothy Lamour quite a bit as Nicky, the hotel owner and girlfriend of Tyler. Louise Platt also stars as another childhood friend who returns to Alaska near the beginning of the film. I thought that this was a good film.

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84 - The Boy Friend (1971) - 7/10 - Twiggy stars as a shy assistant stage manager for a 1920s musical who has to take over the lead role with only a few minutes notice due to the star injuring her ankle. She becomes more confident as the production continues. She also falls in love with the lead actor. Many others in the cast ham it up when they discover that famous Hollywood director Cecil De Thrill is in the audience. I thought that Twiggy did a nice job and the movie isn’t bad.

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85 - The Black Rose (1950) - 6.5/10 - Walter of Gurnie (Tyrone Power) is the illegitimate Saxon son of a recently deceased Saxon lord whose Norman widow despises him. Walter hates the Normans and decides to leave 13th Century England in search of far Cathay. He is accompanied by a yeoman bowman named Tris (Jack Hawkins). They end up in the Middle East and join a caravan loaded with gifts for Kublai Khan. The caravan is led by a noted warrior named Bayan (Orson Welles) who takes an interest in them. There is also an escaped slave girl named Maryam (Cecile Aubry) who may be half English and takes refuge with the two men. The movie is a decent adventure, though I didn’t find Power that convincing as Walter. I didn’t think Aubry was very good as Maryam either. The language issues were mostly brushed over since Bayan conveniently spoke perfect English as did a few others in China and elsewhere.

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86 - Butch and Sundance the Early Days (1979) - 7/10 - Tom Berenger and William Katt assume the roles of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid in this prequel. It starts with Butch getting released from prison in Wyoming and soon after meeting the Sundance Kid when Sundance tries to rob some people at a casino, but it goes badly. The two eventually team up and commit a number of robberies. This isn’t in the same league as the earlier film with Robert Redford, but it is entertaining, even though it seems to meander quite a bit.

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87 - Ulysses (1967) - 7/10 - Leopold Bloom is a middle aged Jewish man who spends the day wandering around Dublin. Leopold ogles the female form during his walk, including a nude Greek statue and a woman at the beach who gives him a nice view. His sexual fantasies and thoughts are played out on the screen in various short scenes. There are also a number of other encounters with various people, including Stephen Dedalus several times. Dedalus has been spending the day wandering around Dublin as well, dealing with his own personal issues. Dedalus also has a bit much to drink during the day and Bloom helps him out. We’re let into their inner thoughts at times. The last half hour of the movie is an inner monologue from Bloom’s wife as they lie in bed while scenes from each of their lives are shown. The movie is a bit slow at the beginning, but becomes more interesting as it progresses. There are also a number of humorous parts. The movie certainly won’t be for everyone.

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88 - Man of Conquest (1939) - 5/10 - This Sam Houston biopic glosses over a lot of his personal history and also has a number of inaccuracies (not unusual for biopics). It has a few parts that are interesting and is certainly watchable, but isn’t really a very good picture.
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89 - Helen Keller in Her Story (1955) - 8.5/10 - This documentary does a nice job covering the life of Helen Keller and includes footage from the 1919 film Deliverance that she made. It demonstrates how she learned to speak, some of her daily activities, and some of her visits to various organizations.

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90 - The Last Days (1998) - 9/10 - The movie follows five Hungarian Jews who survived the Holocaust. The ones who were in concentration camps return there with their families and try to explain what they remember. A couple of American veterans who liberated the camps are also interviewed. A few of the survivors also return home to try and see where they grew up before they were rounded up. It’s pretty effective.

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91 - In the Shadow of the Stars (1991) - 7/10 - A number of opera singers who are chorus members are interviewed about their lives and careers and experiences with opera. I thought that it was interesting.
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92 - Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005) - 7.5/10 - Wallace & Gromit run a pest control business and are tasked with protecting the vegetable gardens of the town as the annual vegetable growing contest approaches. The movie was fun, but I didn't think it was quite as good as the shorts.

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93 - So Ends Our Night (1941) - 7/10 - The movie is about several German exiles/refugees who lack passports and therefore are not legally allowed to stay in Austria, Hungary, or other neighboring European countries. If they are caught, they face exile or prison. The film stars Glenn Ford, Margaret Sullavan, and Fredric March. It was one of the first Hollywood films to show the plight of German exiles at the time. The film isn't bad, but I think it had the potential to be a lot better. The pace was kind of slow and the film would have benefited from a few changes to tighten it up some and move things along.
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94 - Operation Thunderbolt (1977) - 8.5/10 - This is a pretty good dramatization of the hijacking of an Air France fight by a mixture of Germans and Palestinians. The flight contained around 100 Israelis plus a larger number of non-Israelis. They were taken to Libya and later to Uganda where the release of 40 Palestinian prisoners was demanded. Non-Israelis were later released, but the Israeli Defense Force mounted an operation to rescue the remaining passengers and crew.
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95 - The White Cliffs of Dover (1944) - 7.5/10 - Irene Dunne stars as an American woman who visits England with her father shortly before the first World War begins. She meets an Englishman at a ball just before departing for home and it changes everything for her. They marry and shortly thereafter, he has to go off to war. A good portion of the movie is a romance, though the last quarter takes place inbetween the wars and during WWII. Dunne does an excellent job and I think that the rest of the cast was pretty good as well, including Frank Morgan as her father, Alan Marshal as her husband, Gladys Cooper as her mother-in-law, and Roddy McDowell as her teenaged son. The patriotism gets layered on a bit at the end, but overall it is a pretty good film.
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96 - Unconquered (1947) - 7.5/10 - Gary Cooper stars as a Christopher Holden, a British captain during the French and Indian War. He arrives from England on a ship that is carrying a number of bond slaves, including a woman named Abby (Paulette Goddard). An unscrupulous man named Garth tries to purchase Abby, but is thwarted initially by Holden. However, Garth conspires to get Abby for himself anyway after Holden has left. They all meet again on the frontier where Garth has plans to help the Seneca destroy the British outposts in the west. I thought the movie was pretty entertaining.
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97 - The Puppetoon Movie (1987) - 7.5/10 - I've been watching a lot of animated shorts recently, including a few of George Pal's Puppetoons. I decided to pick up the Blu-Ray of The Puppetoon Movie since it has a number of shorts not available elsewhere. The movie features an intro by Gumby, Pokey and Arnie (the dinosaur) and an ending scene which also has The Pillsbury Doughboy and many other characters in cameos. The rest of the movie is a collection of classic shorts which I enjoyed. The second movie came out recently so I'll be watching it soon.
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98 - My Son John (1952) - 6/10 - Dan and Lucille Jefferson (Dean Jagger and Helen Hayes) are sending two of their sons off to serve their country in the armed forces, but their eldest son John (Robert Walker) couldn't make it home in time for the send off. When he does show up, the parents are worried that he is a communist. The father is real piece of work with his quick temper and rabid anti-communist stance while the mother is pretty needy. The movie is a product of its time with its propaganda. It isn't a very good movie, but there are some interesting parts. Unfortunately, Walker died before the movie was quite finished.
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99 - Tender is the Night (1962) - 7/10 - Jason Robards stars as talented psychiatrist Dick Diver who treats mentally ill heiress Nicole Warren (Jennifer Jones). After she is cured they marry, have two children, and move to the French Riviera. As time passes, Dick becomes dependent on alcohol and his wife; she gets stronger while he gets weaker. However, the appearance of a beautiful young actress (Jill St. John) who seems attracted to Dick threatens Nicole's mental wellbeing. The movie is entertaining enough, though it seems a bit inconsistent to me.

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100 - La Mandragola (1965) - 8/10 - Callimaco hears of the beauty of Lucrezia of Florence and when he sees her upon his return to Florence, he falls in love with her. Lucrezia has been married for four year to an older notary who puts her through all sorts of quack methods to try and increase her fertility since she hasn't gotten pregnant by him yet. Callimaco takes advantage of this by posing as a doctor and convincing the husband that a potion made with mandrake root can make her fertile, but it can be deadly for the man who beds her so they will need to find a substitute (him of course). The movie is pretty funny and is based on a satirical play by Macchiavelli set in the early 1500s. I enjoyed it a lot.
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101 - Topper Returns (1941) - 6.5/10 - Cosmo Topper is heading home with his chauffeur when they happen across two young ladies who are headed to the mansion next door. They talk him into giving them a ride to the mansion where one of the ladies is about to inherit the whole estate. That night, one of the girls is murdered and her ghost forces Cosmo to help her find out what happened to her. The movie is slightly better than Topper Takes a Trip, though Billie Burke is annoying as usual and the way some of the characters act just doesn't seem realistic. I realize that it's a comedy, but this took a bit away from my enjoyment of the film. The bombastic and ineffectual nature of the police detective is one example.

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102 - The Emperor's New Groove (2000) - 8/10 - A self-centered young Emperor gets turned into a llama and has to rely on the help of a llama herder whose home he planned to destroy. I thought that it was a lot of fun.
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