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Reviews
Maigret: Maigret Sets a Trap (2016)
Benny Hill as Churchill, Soupy Sales as Hamlet, and now .....
... Rowan Atkinson as Maigret. But it works!! Atkinson is excellent as Maigret, he captures Simenon's character very well. Stories are well written, mood is dark, and 'Paris' (actually Hungary) has the right amount of grunge, not squeaky clean like Murdoch's 1890s Toronto. All 4 episodes are definitely worth watching, with 'Maigret Sets a Trap' and the 4th one I feel are the best ('Maigret in Montmartre').
Once Upon a Time (1944)
Remember, this was 1944
To be best appreciated this enjoyable movie needs to be considered in view of the times in which it was made. In early 1944 the US was 2+ years into WWII with families torn apart and rationing everywhere making daily life everything from inconvenient to quite difficult. Movies made during this time have a certain recognizable tone to them --- the public wanted to escape from the world, as they wanted to do a decade earlier that resulted in so many of the box office successes of the depression-era movies, but now with the added patriotism and "we will win" message of the dramas. So here comes this goofy story from Columbia Pictures, made in early 1944 and released just a few days after D-Day 6/6, about a dancing caterpillar named Curly, whom, in a clever touch, the audience never sees. Cary Grant, then a major star, plays the part with real enthusiasm that almost always is believable. A good supporting cast, including the very underrated James Gleason, and the always adorable Janet Blair. Notable is Gabriel Heater's brief appearance. Heater was the Walter Cronkite of the day, a respected media voice famous for his "There's Good News Tonight" radio lead in. If Heater said it, then you could believe it. In the movie Heater is shown in one of his broadcasts assuring us that Curly is real, folks! Note how well he gives his performance --- like an experienced actor delivering his lines, not as a celebrity woodenly read lines off of cue cards. However, the scenes where world renown scientists 'test' Curly do not work. They're like something from a Three Stooges short. Maybe that was the point. Makes you wonder if it is just a coincidence that the 'worm' is named Curly. All in all, an enjoyable hour and a half with the expected happy ending.