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Reviews
The Duchess of Duke Street (1976)
Entertaining but so much potential wasted
The Duchess of Duke Street purports to be a biographical mini-series about Louisa Trotter, the Cockney proprietor of a swank hotel in St. James, London. It's a fair little mini-series but it suffers from a common 1970s malady - manipulation of historical fact to make it more sympathetic to the modern viewer.
In this case the manipulation is so vast and so all-encompassing that the narrative has become wholly unrealistic. Worse, this seems to have been done mainly to sell the show to Americans, because every change seems to be designed to make the main character more sympathetic to the average American. Some examples: the real Louisa, Rosa Lewis, was a beautiful middle-class country girl who looked forward to a good job in service at age 12 like every other girl she knew, but in this series Louisa is Cockney, poor, and forced to work in degrading service because of her evil mom. In real life, Rosa was propositioned by a drunken European nobleman but was saved in time by her caring employer, an illustrious countess; here, Louisa's propositioned by a stuck-up English nobleman and she's almost fired by her callous employer, a stuck-up viscountess. (The nobleman also falls in love with her specifically because she says no - and her love turns him into an America-friendly egalitarian - but that's another entire level of unreality.) In real life, Rosa succeeded because of her talent but also because of her connections with the rich and powerful: Louisa works herself almost to death. And in real life Rosa was a woman of her time, class-conscious, unthinkingly racist, and deeply distrustful of what she considered "loose women" (ie. any woman who had sex outside marriage): but Louisa treats everyone the same, whether King or cockney, as long as they treat her fairly, and winks at "true love". Every bit of it, every aspect, is designed to make Louisa and by extension the series more appealing to 1970s American viewers.
That said: the series is brilliantly acted (Gemma Jones almost saves this single-handedly, but all the actors are first-rate), the writing is natural and the dialogue unforced, and many of the back stories are taken from real life (Fred the dog, the "conscie" footman, Merriman) and are really legitimately funny. All of that works, and it's enough to make this worth watching, at least once. But much of the comedy of Rosa Lewis's life as shown in the source text (Daphne Fielding's "The Duchess of Jermyn Street") is lost in the rush to make Louisa America-friendly. It could have been so much better.
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003)
Great for comic book fanboys, not so good if you know the originals better
I've finally seen LxG and I did not enjoy it at all. However, I only previously knew the characters from their original (and far more culturally significant) appearances in classic fiction, not from their appearance in a comic book obscure to all but young Anglo-Americans. Perhaps someone who hasn't read the classics but who has read the comic book would feel otherwise.
The biggest problem with the movie is that the action is so predictable that the viewer doesn't need a script to know what happens next. I hope the writers received a sizable discount at Big George's House o' Action Movie Clichés - they certainly added them by the truckload, and the director did not have the deft touch to work them in. On the other hand, the acting is solid (especially Connery, who is fantastic no matter what he does) and the cinematography and set design are both great. There are a few misfires in the special effects, but otherwise the movie is visually appealing.
But I can't get past how the characters were mangled and how ham-handedly the action is telegraphed, and because of that I can't recommend this movie for anyone but the most dedicated comic book fanboy. It really is that bad.
All My Sons (1948)
Well-written, well-acted, but not quite Miller's (or realistic)
This is a great movie for anyone who likes well-acted, tightly-written suspense and who can tolerate the absence of such tired action-movie clichés as exploding helicopters and pithy catchphrases. Edward G. Robinson does a masterful job as Joe Keller, an aircraft manufacturer who shirks the responsibility for providing faulty equipment to the Army Air Force (as it was known then) and allows his partner to go to jail. Solid supporting performances by Burt Lancaster, Howard Duff, and Mady Christians make All My Sons an even more rewarding movie.
What I really loved about it is how the screenplay contrasts not just guilt and innocence but also knowledge and belief, loyalty to family and loyalty to the truth, and grief and guilt. The plot is complex and fulfilling; all characters are well-rounded. The acting is uniformly excellent and you are made to believe in the characters and their plights.
I have two hesitations about recommending this movie unreservedly. One is that anyone who has seen the play, and especially any fan of Arthur Miller, might find the movie disappointing. Screenwriter Chester Erskine changed quite a bit, including removing some characters and reducing the number of competing plot lines. The script may be weaker than Miller's play, but it's more suitable for the big screen.
The other reservation I have is that the underlying premise is actually quite unrealistic. In real life there would have been no investigation in the first place, and certainly no criminal charges. Training aircraft crashed with such depressing regularity that investigation was rare even in the most suspicious cases - there just wasn't the money, time, or interest on the part of the brass. Problems in combat situations would be investigated, but most training accidents were assumed to be pilot error even when they patently weren't. This error won't bother most people, of course, and shouldn't; but if you are a stickler for accuracy it might affect your enjoyment of the film.
Saskatchewan (1954)
Hilarious movie for those who live/lived here
I had the opportunity to see "Saskatchewan" lately, and viewing it brought back memories of my parents telling me about the film. When they saw it in a Calgary theatre in 1954, the audience didn't stop laughing from beginning to end. Mounties -- in 1950s DRESS UNIFORMS -- travelling through the mountains of Saskatchewan on horses! While singing! Short, skinny little Alan Ladd (with the strongest American accent on file) as a NWMP officer! Protecting his pure, innocent white girl from the evil Indians! While the towering Rockies surround FORT WALSH! Even now, knowing that the old Saskatchewan Territory took in much of Southern Alberta (but not the mountains), it's a very, very funny movie. Imagine Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas in character as Bob and Doug MacKenzie playing New Jersey State Police officers and riding around Arizona on horseback - and it's not a comedy - and you get the idea.
I'm sure that people who have never seen a mountain would love "Saskatchewan" for the scenery, but by God this was funnier than the mountains of New York City in "Rumble in the Bronx". If you live here, it'll make tears fall down your face.
Incidentally, my dad actually turned to my mom after the movie and asked her why the RCMP, who function in the west as the equivalent of US state troopers, had never been riding horses when they pulled him over for speeding. Her answer: "You drive faster than a horse."
The Girl from Calgary (1932)
A very strange movie, and an interesting historical document
"The Girl from Calgary" is a strange movie but a valuable historical document. It shows how at least one early filmmaker handled the challenge of producing a film in a short period of time with few resources and very little money. Its faults and strengths tell us more about the early sound era than they do about any girl supposedly from Calgary.
One striking feature of the movie is that it appears to be a montage cobbled together from various film sources. The first part of the film is silent newsreel footage of an early Calgary Stampede parade, possibly from the 1930 Stampede. (Local viewers with a historical bent may enjoy the view of 7th Avenue S.W. in the early Depression era.) The movie then suddenly segues into a drama between various characters, one of whom is a French-Canadian stage actress, and then portrays a play in which the actress stars. The end appears to be a travelogue of an area which looks more like the mountains of central California than the plains of southern Alberta.
The splices between the various sections are abrupt and unexpected, which makes one wonder if the producers assumed that audiences would be more interested in the novelty of sound and the supposed exoticness of the locale than in the plot itself. Differences in sound quality in the dramatic parts and in the stage play itself provide clues as to how these sections were shot and miked.
One interesting piece of trivia about this film is that it contains one of the longest and best newsreel shots of Indians in an early Stampede parade. The original newsreel from which the shots were taken has disappeared, and many of the remaining newsreel shots from before the sound era are only seconds long or feature only cowboys and local officials. It's perhaps strange that a Hollywood movie would be such an important source for First Nations historians searching for information about the persons who participated in early parades.
As for a French-Canadian (with a Parisian accent!) living in Calgary in 1932...well, there might have been one. It would have made much more sense to make her Scots, English, or Hong Kong Chinese though!
Titanic (1996)
A melodramatic, clumsy, and inaccurate version of the story; inappropriate for younger viewers
The 1996 Titanic mini-series is a poorly thought out adaptation of the story of the sinking. Although it shares some similarities with the 1997 movie, Cameron does a much better (and smoother) job at combining a melodramatic romance with a fictional account of a real event.
The biggest problem I have with this version is that the writers threw an unhistorical (and somewhat graphic) rape into the mix. Like Cameron, the (already dramatic enough) story of the sinking is accompanied by a romance between two passengers. Unlike Cameron, the writers of this mini-series gave the female character a name very similar to one of the victims of the tragedy AND they portrayed her as having been viciously and violently sexually assaulted by a porter at the moment of the collision. Not only was this an incredibly clumsy attempt at an allegory (the ship is raped by the iceberg at the same time she is raped by the porter), but it makes the mini-series completely inappropriate for younger viewers.
Another problem is how the real people aboard Titanic were portrayed by the writers. For example, the real Margaret Tobin Brown was a middle-aged, rather unattractive (she had jowls, droopy eyes, and crooked teeth) woman who dressed very conservatively. She was also an extremely intelligent, forward-thinking and capable woman. Unfortunately, she is portrayed in this mini-series as "Molly Brown" - a flashy, sexy, sassy, superficial bimbo one step short of a Paris courtesan. Marilu Henner is an excellent actor but her character is so unlike the real Margaret Brown that it's incredibly grating. It is no more believable than having Jessica Simpson play Margaret Thatcher in Daisy Dukes and a bikini top.
The acting is somewhat uneven. Although Henner's character is very inaccurately written, she personally does a good job with it, as does George C. Scott as Captain Smith, but Tim Curry as the rapist-porter chews enough scenery for the entire cast.
I don't recommend this mini-series for younger viewers or for anyone who actually cares about the real human beings who suffered on the night to remember. There was no need to create additional suffering in order to make the night more dramatic, and there was no need to portray real people so inaccurately.
The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945)
An almost impossible book to translate to the screen
The Picture of Dorian Grey is a difficult film for me to rate. It's not a bad film by any means on its own, and it does follow the bare plot of the original, but -- the problem is that the original is for the most part not translatable into a visual medium.
Oscar Wilde may have written "The Picture of Dorian Grey" as an experiment in writing about the senses. Lord Henry Wotton, for instance, seems to have been a metaphor for scent; his scenes in the book are imbued with descriptions about aromas such as flower fragrances, tobacco smoke, and the like. Sybil Vane the singer is the metaphor for sound; once she is no longer the angelic soprano, she no longer exists to Dorian. Despite being a painter, Basil appears to have represented taste; once Dorian kills him, Dorian does not eat or drink again in the novel. James Vane is perhaps touch; the touch of death? Dorian himself is sight, false vision at least; his portrait in the attic the truth about himself.
But how does a director show that in a film? And how does he show the layers upon layers of social commentary that Wilde piled upon the metaphors? Albert Lewin perhaps wisely decided not to. The story of the movie stands as is. However, the reader looking for a faithful adaptation of the book would not find it here. I'm not sure if he would or could find it in any movie.
Remo Williams: The Prophecy (1988)
Bad, and not in a good way
Remo Williams was the pilot episode for a TV series which was never filmed. It was only seen by viewers in some US cities, as a major speech by President Reagan at the Republican National Convention pre-empted it in most areas. I suspect that most viewers out West who did see it were so numbed by its dullness that they've forgotten.
The writers stuffed every stereotype, every stock character, and every banality they could fit into the pilot. Every tired joke is played out; every move is telegraphed. Even McDowell and Meek couldn't do much about the stale dialogue and poor directing.
Sadly, the depth of character, original humor and slight moral ambiguity of the original movie and the books on which it was based were erased in a weak attempt to cater to the lowest common denominator. It didn't work.