Reviews

Police Lt. Kenny Williams (Melvyn Douglas) is torn between his obligations to his job, and his fiancé Maxine Carroll (Joan Blondell) who just happens to be the mayor's secretary. His job and his fiancé are both very demanding of his time and are constantly at odds. It seems that every time Kenny and Maxine have a date, he is called away.

Lately there have been a string of murders and the press has dubbed the evil-doer "The Phantom Slugger." This keeps Kenny busy.

Can he solve the case AND satisfy Maxine with a ring on her finger?

Random Notes:

This is a poor imitation of the Thin Man series. The tone of the film is wildly uneven and there's no chemistry between the stars. They're obviously trying way too hard to make this into a similar success.

There's a mildly funny sequence where it is decided that one of the force's detectives must dress in drag and hang out on the street hoping to lure the murderer out of hiding. It was cute.

The ending is really stupid.

*shrug*

You know you're in for a treat when a film opens with Joan Crawford walking on the beach in a big dress AND HEELS!

Our story starts with drama at a beach property being rented by Eloise Crandall. The next door neighbors Osbert and Queenie Sorenson (Natalie Schafer) can hear her crying and pleading with their housemate Drummy. Eloise is drunk and distraught about something, and mutters about going to the police. Then we see her rushing through the darkened house after (the unseen) Drummy, out onto the deck, where she crashes through the railing, and falls to her death, sprawled out like a swastika on the beach rocks below.

Lynn Markham (Joan Crawford) arrives the next day. She owns the house. Her wealthy husband had passed away recently and she decided to move into the property for some quiet reflection. The real estate rep, Jan, shows her the house, explaining that the previous tenant moved out in a hurry, and avoids telling her the truth about what happened the night before.

It isn't long before Drummy (Jeff Chandler) shows up and does his best to charm Lynn, but Lynn is having -none- of it ... for now. You can see where this is heading, but it's still fun getting there.

The bottom line is that Osbert and Queenie have made an "inve$tment" in Drummy, and his job is to woo wealthy widows and drain their bank accounts. Will this work on Lynn, the way it worked on Eloise?

Random Notes:

Nobody can deliver a sarcastic line like Joan Crawford. There are way too many to choose from here but one of my favorite is when Osbert and Queenie show up unannounced at her home and Lynn says "I'd like to ask you to stay for a drink, but I'm afraid you might accept." And she -continues- to read them for filth!

Drummy: "How do you like your coffee?" Lynn: "Alone!"

When Drummy keeps popping up at the house Lynn says, "You must go with the house, like the plumbing."

Lynn: "I wouldn't have you if you were hung upside-down with diamonds!" ... Um. WTF?

There's a fair amount of physical violence in this film. Lynn throws a drink in Drummy's face, she slaps him, bites him, and smacks him in the head with a telephone receiver. Drummy also manhandles Lynn and tears her dress ... just before she is "overcome with passion" and they get to bangin'.

There are some odd choices when it comes to Lynn's wardrobe. In addition to the aforementioned "strolling the beach in heels" scene, we see her wandering her darkened home alone, listening to music, dressed in a gorgeous gown, face and hair fully made up, and flashing jewelry ... At home. Alone. Then there's the scene where she wears a big long sleeve jacket over her bathing suit while she huddles by the fire for warmth. Um. Maybe she should put on something to cover her legs if she's cold?

The theme music by George Gershwin is wonderful, and very atmospheric.

There's a twist at the end! Can you see it coming?

One can make a pretty strong argument that this isn't a very good film, but those flaws are what make it so enjoyable!

Highly recommended!

The Basic Plot: Vienna (Joan Crawford) is the owner of a saloon right outside of an unnamed town out west. She built her saloon there because she knows that a railroad will be passing nearby, and this is her chance to get a foothold on all that out of town traffic and build her business.

The townspeople want her out at any cost because they want that business, and they are driven by Emma Small (Mercedes McCambridge), who also has a personal vendetta against Vienna. That conflict is over a man - "The Dancin' Kid" (Scott Brady). Unfortunately, The Kid has an eye for Vienna. He and his three buddies own a silver mine and come to Viennas every Friday night to blow off some steam.

The whole story is set in motion by the robbery of a stagecoach and the murder of Emma's brother on that coach. She convinces the townspeople that The Kid and his gang did it and that Vienna is part of that gang. All of this is complicated by the arrival of Vienna's long lost love, Johnny "Guitar" Logan, who has been summoned to provide music for Vienna's saloon. And Johnny has some secret skills that come in handy.

Random Notes:

Joan Crawford snarls her way through the entire film with an intensity that has to be seen to be believed. Every single line and every single movement is overacted for maximum drama - especially in the scenes between Vienna and Emma. You can -almost- see the knives emerging from their eyes. It's hysterical just how over-the-top their interactions are!

Mercedes McCambridge matches Joan Crawford in her intensity all through the story. There's one particular scene where Emma goes completely off the rails and practically vibrates with hatred while trying to convince the townspeople / lynch mob to descend on Viennas and hang her and the gang!

Then Emma just about has an orgasm while she watches Vienna's saloon burn down!

It seems that there are a lot of stand-offs during the film where people point guns and hurl nastygrams at each other.

A lot of the dialogue is short and razor sharp. People answer questions with questions or keep it to just a few words and they go back and forth like a tennis match.

Sample dialogue:

Emma to Vienna: "You're just a railroad tramp and you're not fit to live among decent people!"

Between Vienna and Johnny: "How many men have you forgotten?" "As many women as you remember."

Much has been made of the gender roles being reversed in this film for a good reason. It's fun to see the men being passive and following the orders from the women. That passivity even carries over to the romantic scenes! Joan is the aggressor! There's also a wonderful moment where The Kid strikes a very Femme Fatale pose in a doorway while talking to Vienna. It's jaw-dropping in its obviousness. I'd almost expected to see him loosen a button on his shirt and push his tits up and out for maximum effect!

And when one of the men speaks out of turn, he is literally slapped into submission by another man. Not punched ... slapped!

Then theres a really weird "duel" between The Dancing Kid and Johnny Guitar right in front of Vienna. They don't draw guns, they each perform the skill they are known for to impress Vienna. The Kid grabs a partner and dances with her while Johnny Guitar plays a tune. It's one of the oddest scenes in a very odd film.

Technically, there are some issues with the film. The location shots are gorgeous but there are also some obvious background projection screens. The lighting is inconsistent, the windstorm earlier in the film didn't affect the trees in the background, and Vienna apparently has a magical wardrobe that refuses to get dirty no matter what she puts it through.

If this all sounds really campy and gay gay gay, you are absolutely correct. Rainbow flag bumper stickers on the back of the horses wouldn't have seemed out of place. And you are beaten over the head with the gay gay gay factor at the very end, after the showdown between Vienna and Emma, when Patti Page sings a few lines about Johnny Guitar over the last shot!

This is one of the first films I ever saw starring Joan Crawford and it's what cemented my love for her; hence, my journey through her filmography.

I can't recommend Johnny Guitar enough. It's a very odd film and loads of fun! Watch it!

The Joan Crawford Experience 46 / 59

Joan Dials It Up To 11 In Glorious Technicolor!

This is the film where Joan starts her descent into Camp / Caricature. The eyebrows start wandering up her forehead, the clown lipstick makes it's first appearance, and her character is nothing if not extreme.

Jenny Stewart (Joan Crawford) is the reigning Diva of Broadway. She expects nothing less than perfection from herself and everyone around her. She's hard as nails and cold as ice. Driven. Determined. And relentless.

We meet her as she's berating her dancing partner during rehearsal because he can't get around her outstretched leg during a sequence of moves. When it is suggested that she can accommodate her dancing partner by moving her leg in just a little she is incredulous. "What? And ruin that line?"

And that's just the beginning. She spends the rest of the film barking orders, making wisecracks, and behaving like a royal pain in the ass ... until she meets her match in the form of a blind piano player who isn't afraid of standing up to her. Will he break through her tough exterior?

Random Notes:

There are some faaaaaaaabulous lines in this film!

When her agent references "art" Jenny cuts him off and says "Your idea of 'art' is fruit in a slot machine!" When her driver asks for the agent's address (to take him home) Jenny interjects "Any dark bar!"

When Jenny's boy-toy shows up one morning and complains that he didn't even stop for breakfast she shrugs and says "Eh, you know where the gin is!" And speaking of her boy-toy Cliff Willard (Gig Young) she says "You're useless ... but beautiful." Later she dismisses him and says, "You'll get a call when I need you." That sounds like he's her Booty-Call!

Jenny's bedroom is lit up like a football stadium and she wears men's pajamas. Eeek!

Listen to the lyrics of the songs she lip-syncs because they're all about her internal dialogue.

BTW, the lip-syncing is awful. The vocalist is nowhere near Joan's natural singing voice and it's hysterically obvious. I understand that Joan's singing wasn't up to standards, and the studio was recycling some tunes that were cut from other productions, but daaaaaaaaamn! It's really bad!

Worst of all is the big production number "Two Faced Woman" where Joan appears in blackface! The lyrics are painfully stupid and the blackface is just .... Wrong. So very wrong! I remember the first time I saw this that my jaw hit the floor. It is a -major- What Moment.

Jenny apparently doesn't have any female friends because when she orders her agent to gather "the gang" for a party, we discover that they're all men! It's like a gay cocktail party! Cliff, who gets a little drunk at the party subtly (?) insults Jenny by saying "You are the distilled essence of effectiveness." Think about that for a moment. That's brutal!

I've got about a dozen more things I could say about the film but I'll wrap it up with this thought ... It strikes me that this is the first film in a trilogy of Extremes. In the following two films (Johnny Guitar and Female on The Beach) she plays a variation of the Jenny Stewart character. There's not a moment of subtlety in any of these films. It's 110% Joan Crawford coming at you at 110 miles an hour for a relentless 90 minutes or so. Grab your popcorn and hold on tight!

Highly Recommended!

What a powerful film!

It's also extremely cynical and may tempt you to completely give up on society because so many of the pointed commentaries on the media that you'll find in the film still apply today. Especially today!

This is the story of Howard Beale (Peter Finch), the alcoholic, depressed evening news anchor for the struggling UBS Network. He goes off script one evening and announces he's going to kill himself next week on air. This stirs up an enormous amount of crap as you may imagine, but he is allowed back on the air and as his (obvious) mental illness progresses his ratings increase.

This is a powerhouse showcase for all the actors involved, but Ned Beatty (as Arthur Jensen) blew me away. He is the epitome of corporate evil! I understand he did all his work on the film in just one day ... and that got him a well-deserved Oscar nomination. Faye Dunaway (as UBS programming director Diana Christensen) depicts a character so loathsome and devoid of -any- redeeming qualities that it must be seen to be believed. And William Holden (as former news director Max Schumacher) is the only character with any moral compass, but even he goes astray.

There's also a lot of Meta commentary and self-referential bits involving scripts that the actors are themselves playing out even as they get snarky about it!

And there's a hysterical scene involving a business meeting with a terrorist group that has it's own TV show (thanks to Diana)!

It's darkly funny (as in pitch-black), enormously cynical, and riveting.

HIGHLY Recommended!

Shoplifters is the story of a chosen family made up of Tokyo's outcasts.

We have "Grandma", an elderly woman in a run-down home who relies on a monthly pension and shares her home with the rest of the family. Osamu, a construction worker. His romantic interest Nobuyo, a worker in a laundry / garment factory. Aki, a beautiful young lady who gets by working at a peep-show booth. Shota, a boy in his early teens that Osamu "adopted" when he was much younger. And Yuri, an abused and unwanted five-year-old girl who is rescued by Osamu and Nobuyo.

And all these people have shoplifting or other scams to help them get by.

Then just when you get comfortable with who these people are, something happens that causes it all to unravel, and we learn the backstories.

This is a wonderful film with engaging characters ... and the way it ends is heartbreaking. It gave me a case of The Feels in that cold, black little nugget in my chest, and actually brought a bit of moisture to my jaded eyes.

Highly Recommended!

Lord Rexford (Hebert Marshall) is an English aristocrat visiting Manhattan, and he meets Park Avenue party-girl Mary (Norma Shearer) when they share a ride to a costume party. They hit it off immediately, ditch the party, and start a Vacation Romance.

The Vacation Romance turns serious when the Lord is supposed to go back to the UK and he asks Mary to marry him. It's made clear that they were already having sex and that he knows of her "past" flings with other men. Mary resists at first, worried how he'd feel later on about marrying a woman who has been around a few times, but gives in.

"A ring in the nose and a beating every Saturday night, please!"

A few years later we see that they are still happily in love ... or perhaps I should say -nauseatingly- in love because they lay it on thick when they get all lovey-dovey.

The Lord has to go away on a business trip to the US and can't take Mary, so he leaves her with his Aunt Heddy who lures her away to Cannes for the duration. It's there that she runs into an old flame, Tommy (Robert Montgomery), and things get complicated. They get drunk and exchange a kiss. That gets Tommy's engines going and he goes after Mary even though he knows she is married!

What follows is a bit of comedy, a bit of melodrama, and a lot of business about Mary's scandalous past (and present).

"In New York you were the kind of girl who didn't stop at a kiss!"

It's an interesting story with some great actors and clever dialogue.

Recommended!

The film opens with some rather risqué banter between an older man in a bedroom and an unseen young woman in the bathroom who has just taken a shower ... so it's kind of a shock when she calls him "Dad" ... but it's just typical for this rather close and kissy father and daughter.

Jan (Norma Shearer) is the free-spirited and beautiful daughter of the criminal lawyer Stephen Ashe (Lionel Barrymore). Stephen is about to defend notorious gambler Ace Wilfong (Clark Gable) against a murder charge later that day. He and Jan are also going to his mother's house for her birthday celebration that evening.

We see Jan at the birthday party announcing her engagement to the thoroughly dull Dwight Winthrop (Leslie Howard) just before her dad arrives drunk and with Ace Wilfong in tow. The rest of the family does not approve of Stephen's drinking and the fact that he brought a client with him. They're rather rude so Jan volunteers to see Ace home, and that's where the real excitement starts.

There's a lot going on in this film. You've got the good time girl who just wants to have some fun, the gangster boss who is used to getting anything he wants, the thoroughly dull (but respectable) fiancé who just wants his love to be happy, and the melodramatic lawyer with a drinking problem.

And it's very entertaining because it's a pre-code film where they approach these flawed characters head-on. In fact, a large part of the courtroom melodrama near the end of the film seems to really be about Jan sleeping with Ace!

Recommended!

So, this is a .... Supernatural Horror Comedy Western?

"High Plains Drifter" is a really odd film with an ambiguous ending open to many interpretations.

The Basics: A mysterious stranger happens upon the small town of Lago, a settlement beside a lake somewhere out west. All he wants is a drink, a shave, and a bath, but the three amateur bad-asses hired to protect the town make him feel unwelcome so he shoots them. The townspeople recognize that this mysterious stranger is The Ultimate Bad-Ass and convince him to stay and protect them from a trio of nasty guys who hold a grudge against the town and are being released from prison soon.

But it's actually much weirder than that.

It looks like a pretty standard Western, but the music tells you this is a supernatural horror. There are moments of levity followed by very uncomfortable scenes of a brutal rape that goes on and on and on (and the victim ends up enjoying herself). There's also an intense murder scene where three men whip the town's previous Sheriff to death in the middle of the street, and it also goes on and on and on.

It's all very well done and entertaining if you like oddball movies (like I do). My only real complaint is that the town looked like a movie set. It didn't look lived in at all. There weren't enough homes to account for everyone, and some of the business buildings were ridiculously small. It was set way too close to the water, and there was no plant life anywhere around the settlement.

Or was that all on purpose? It certainly adds to the dreamlike / nightmarish atmosphere of the film.

In any case it's well worth watching.

I found "The Ladykillers" to be a mildly amusing 1950s British comedy, and not quite the laugh-out-loud riot that some other reviewers have suggested.

Mrs. Wilberforce is a somewhat dotty elderly widow who lives alone in a house at the end of a cul-de-sac near a train station. She's looking to rent out a room and is approached by "Professor Marcus" (Alec Guinness). He rents the room and explains that he's part of a quintet of musicians and would like to have the others over for practice.

The others arrive with their instruments and they pretend to practice in Professor Marcus' room (by playing a record) while actually plotting a heist at the train station.

Part of that plan relies on the kindness and gullibility of their host, Mrs Wilberforce. They plot to have her unknowingly collect and deliver the stolen goods back to her home. The gang would then split the cash and part ways with the widow.

All goes according to plan until Mrs. Wilberforce is on her way home with the loot and complications arise.

Then it all goes to Heck, and takes a rather dark turn at the end.

Y'know, in retrospect, I think I may have enjoyed the film a bit more if the visual effects and dubbing weren't so bad. You're already suspending disbelief because the plot elements really don't add up to anything remotely realistic; and when you see the painfully obvious background projections and poor sound dubbing it definitely takes you out of the moment.

Oh well, one and done!

J.P. Merritt (Charles Coburn) is the world's richest man, and he's not happy. It appears that employees at one of his department stores are trying to unionize for better benefits and treatment, and are making a lot of noise in the newspapers.

The detective he hired to infiltrate the union organizers has a family matter to attend to so J.P. decides to do the work himself. He becomes an employee in the shoe department (under a fake name) and is soon taken under the wing of fellow employee Mary Jones (Jean Arthur). She shows him the ropes and he starts to see why the employees are unhappy.

He ends up running with the unionizing ringleader, and develops a romance with another employee in the shoe department.

It's a sweet and funny story; and you -know- how it's going to end ... but it's nice getting there.

It appears that this is one of those "love-it or hate-it" films with strong opinions on both sides. While I can definitely understand and agree with a lot of the criticism I still count myself on the love-it side because of the pure visual spectacle.

It's a very simple story that could have been told in probably half the run time, but each scene is drawn out with jaw-dropping visual effects. And I like that!

The story: Hippies in love, Red (Nicholas Cage) and Mandy (Andrea Riseborough), live their simple life out in the woods. Mandy is abducted and killed by an acid-dropping hippie religious cult, and Red goes on an acid-fueled revenge killing spree.

All that acid explains the outrageous visuals.

There's not much back-story or character development. It all takes place in The Now. It's very violent. There are some very uncomfortable scenes (Red chugging vodka in his underwear and screaming while sitting on the toilet). And a lot of the hippies-in-love purity and innocence sequences are almost enough to induce an eye-roll.

But I thought it all worked!

Our story begins at Oxford University where Professor Richard Myles (Fred MacMurray) and Frances (Joan Crawford) have just been married. They are leaving for their honeymoon in Europe after an evening at a quiet Inn under assumed names (so the professor's students can't pull any pranks on them).

Unfortunately, Fred is tracked down by a colleague who needs his help in tracking down a man who has information about a secret weapon being developed by the Germans. Richard describes it as a "little errand" he needs to run for a friend, and Frances exclaims "We're spies!"

And so they're off to The Continent for a series of encounters involving passwords, musical clues, disguises, an assassination, fake passports, double agents, and close calls with the bad guys before they can get on with a proper honeymoon in Italy.

And I found it all rather underwhelming. Not really bad but not particularly good either. I lay that blame at the feet of Fred MacMurray because there is absolutely no spark between him and Joan. I can buy him being a professor at Oxford but can't see him as a spy or as someone who'd capture the interest of a woman like Joan.

I can pretty much sum up my experience of this movie with a gesture ...

*shrug*

Film #5 of the 2-disc / 5-film William Castle "Horror Collection".

Anyone familiar with the 1932 classic will surely be disappointed with this hot mess of wasted celluloid. It bears just the vaguest resemblance to the original.

This is the story of an American car salesman in London who is invited to the run down country estate owned by the Femm family. There is a terrible storm when he arrives so he has to stay the night and that's when things go bump and people get dead.

But it's -NOT- a Horror Film. And it's -NOT- particularly funny either.

It's just stupid. Really, really, stupid. And cheap. The "special effects" are embarrassing. There are 1960s sit-coms that looked better than this.

After enduring the 5 films in this collection I don't think I'll be seeking out any of Mr. Castle's other offerings. I'm done!

This was film #4 of the 2-disc / 5-movie William Castle "Horror Collection" and the best film out of all by far.

I enjoyed it so much because it was absolutely ridiculous!

As the film starts we are introduced to Emily (Jean Arliss). She has a bullet-proof helmet of platinum blonde hair, pyramid boobs, and a frighteningly tiny waist. Seriously. She looks like she'd snap in half if she bent over to tie her shoe. She checks into a hotel, makes it -very- clear that she is single at the front desk, then seduces a bell-boy into a bizarre scheme to marry her for $2,000. They go to a justice of the peace sometime after midnight, and after the legalities are over she stabs the officiant to death and runs out.

And it just gets more and more convoluted and surreal in the stupidest of ways.

Did Castle do this on purpose? Was he trying to make a genuinely scary psychological thriller and fail , but unintentionally make a campy cult film? I'm confused.

There's a whole lot here that makes no sense whatsoever, but it's such an entertaining train wreck that I didn't care. It was fun!

Oh, and the gimmick for this film is a one minute countdown "fright-meter" that gives the audience time to leave the theater right before the conclusion of the film. You know, just in case they were too scared to watch the rest.

Silly, yes, but very entertaining.

Ok, now I get it! William Castle is a low-rent Hitchcock-wannabe / sideshow carnival barker. He doesn't make Horror films, he makes "horror" films. Completely disposable films for momentary amusement. Much like a lot of 1960's pop radio.

This is film #3 in the 2-disc 5-movie collection I found on Amazon, and now that I think I have him figured out I'll approach the final films with that outlook.

Sir Robert Cargrave (Ronald Lewis) is a successful doctor in 1880s London, known for healing the paralyzed with hot compresses and massage. Seriously. One day he receives a letter from an old flame, Maude, who is now married to the wealthy Baron Sardonicus (BS) in the eastern European country of Gorslava. She needs his help so he drops everything and goes to her.

After much nonsense and a flashback sequence we learn that BS used to be a poor man living with his lottery-loving father and his money-hungry first wife. BS's dad dies and is buried with a winning lottery ticket in his vest. His (first) wife goads him into digging up dear old dad to retrieve the ticket and when he does he is so traumatized by the experience that his face is frozen into a horrible "grin" much like his dad's decaying visage. Sir Robert has been summoned to work a miracle of massage therapy and heat on BS to return his face to normal.

Random Notes:

This movie -desperately- wants to be a 1930s classic.

The maid with Marty Feldman eyes: "No! Not the leeches again!"

Maude's bedroom set is so over-the-top with vulgar, ostentatious, ridiculous decoration that I literally laughed out loud.

Mr. Castle interrupts the film before the last scene so the audience can "vote" via a thumbs-up or thumbs-down cards to see whether BS has a happy ending or if he suffers a terrible fate. It goes on and on and is super-cheesy!

There's a lot that doesn't make sense and a couple of big plot holes, but I've already wasted too much time writing about a film that isn't really worthy of my efforts, so you'll just have to trust me.

Rip-Off Alert:

This film was included in the 2-Disc / 5-Movie William Castle "Horror Collection" ... but this is NOT a Horror Film. This is a golly-G rated syrupy sweet YA spy "thriller".

The poster art is -very- misleading, and the story actually involves 15 girls, not 13.

And no, I didn't suffer through the entire thing once I realized what it was. I watched the first 10 minutes then fast-forwarded through the rest out of morbid curiosity.

Perhaps the "horror" aspect came into play during the very uncomfortable scene where 16 year old Candy / Kitten (Kathy Dunn) crawls all over a much older man in an attempt to seduce him.

Yikes!

This is truly one of THE funniest films I've ever seen. I'd rank it up there with The Out-Of-Towners and What's Up Doc? It's one of those silly, over-the-top comedies where a bad situation just keeps getting worse.

Mortimer Brewster (Cary Grant) is a famous author and journalist known for his anti-marriage views, but we are introduced to him down at city hall getting a marriage license! He gets hitched to the lovely Elaine Harper (Priscilla Lane) then they rush to share the good news with Mortimer's spinster aunts, and Elaine's father - a widowed preacher who lives across from Mortimer's family.

Perhaps I should elaborate a bit ... Reverend Harper lives in a house across from the graveyard next to Brewster sisters dilapidated old house ... and it's Halloween!

While sharing the news with his aunts Mortimer discovers a dead body in the house. He also discovers that his dear sweet elderly aunts are murderers ... and it all goes hysterically downhill from there.

I don't want to give too much away because this is one of those films where it's better if you go into it knowing just the basics.

I will say that some of the funniest gags take place off screen where you can hear what is happening and the rest is left to your imagination. I'll also say that Dr. Einstein (Peter Lorre) stole every scene he's in!

And lastly, I'll say that this is a Must-See for any fan of classic cinema!

It is May 9, 1940, and we first meet Michele de la Becque (Joan Crawford) at a banquet to celebrate the war efforts of French industrialists. Her boyfriend, Robert Cordot (Philip Dorn), is one of the men being honored at the event ... but Michele is bored.

We learn that she is a wealthy and spoiled Frenchwoman who has no interest in current events like that oh-so-inconvenient war raging in Europe; so she flits off to the south of France for a break while Robert stays behind to do whatever it is he does.

And that's when the "stuff" hits the fan and France is invaded. We are treated to a montage of newspaper headlines, archival footage of various battles, and shots of Michele experiencing the inconveniences of war! Poor Michele!

When she finally returns to Paris it is an occupied city, and her humble mansion has been commandeered by the Nazis as an office of some sort. When she is finally reunited with Robert it is at another banquet. This time it is filled with Nazis! It appears that Robert is a collaborator! And Michele is having none of this or him!

Well, a girl's gotta eat, so she hoofs it to Montanot, the (once-exclusive) Parisian boutique where she used to get her gorgeous gowns. Only this time she's looking for a job. Her attitude towards the staff has changed dramatically by this time. She is humbled.

It's on the way home from work one evening that she encounters RAF pilot Pat Talbot (John Wayne) lurking in the shadows, trying to outrun the Nazis chasing him. Michele gives him a hiding place, then the rest of the story is all about trying to get Pat out of Nazi occupied France.

Random Notes:

Joan doesn't even attempt a French accent.

There must have been a sub-plot cut out of the film involving the gas mask cannister that Michele carries then leaves behind with Robert. It's never explained why there was a small box in the canister instead of a mask.

The filmmakers take quite a few amusing jabs at the weight and lack of sophistication of the occupying Nazi women. There's a scene at Montenot where the women are fighting over clothes on a table like pigs at a trough. And one of the former models at the shop explains that she no longer models clothes there because "... mannequins are running to larger sizes now!"

Natalie Schafer (Mrs. Thurston Howell, AKA "Lovey" from Gilligan's Island) makes an appearance as a spoiled rich Nazi woman.

Although I really do not care for John Wayne, I've got to admit that he was tolerable here.

The very last scene is kind of cheesy but understandable for the time period.

Overall, it's a fairly entertaining 100 minutes with a somewhat convoluted plot. Not a bad way to pass the time.

No honey. This is -not- a Horror Film.

This is a schlocky G-rated oh-so-wholesome family film complete with clueless parents, an attractive teen-age daughter, and an irritatingly cute kid who saves the day.

The only thing scary about this film was the creepy pedo-undertones of lawyer Benjamin Rush having a "secret" with Buck.

The Story: The Zorba family are in dire financial straits. All of their furniture has been repossessed, so they celebrate Buck's birthday picnic-style on the floor in the living room. Buck blows out the candles on his cake and wishes for a house with furniture. Boom! A creepy messenger arrives and delivers a telegram for the father, Cyrus Zorba, asking him to meet with his uncle's lawyer.

Apparently, his uncle died recently and left his fully-furnished creepy old home to Cyrus.

Then we discover that Cyrus' uncle was a scientist who dabbled in the occult, "collected" ghosts, and invented a pair of glasses (with prisms for lenses) that allows the wearer to see these spirits.

We also learn that there is a fortune hidden in the house that no one has been able to find.

So, the family moves in, things go bump in the night, etc ...

The gimmick for this film is that when the screen turns a shade of blue the audience is supposed to look through a special viewer that has a red filter and a blue filter. Look through the red filter if you believe in ghosts, look through the blue if you do not.

Well, we obviously don't have that viewer so we see a blue tinted scene with a bright red overlay of a ghost doing ghostly things.

And it's exactly as silly as it sounds.

The best part of the film is having a rather severe looking Margaret Hamilton (the housekeeper) utter the line "Tonight, Death walks again in this evil house!"

Silly, but still kind-a fun. I guess?

Meh!

American Suzy Trent (Jean Harlow) is a struggling chorus girl in London performing in the "Melodies of 1914" show. We meet her the night that the show closes and heads for Paris. Suzy stays behind, determined to meet a rich British citizen and live the easy life.

Well, she meets British citizen Terry Moore (Franchot Tone) who appears to be rich at first. She discovers that he actually works in a machine shop but has a creative streak and uses the shop after hours to work on an invention that will help Air Force pilots. Terry falls hard for Suzy; and although Suzy tells him she's not in love (but likes him a lot) she agrees to marry him.

Then there's some business about a Russian spy and Terry is shot. Suzy freaks out and heads for Paris before anyone can blame her for the shooting. Besides, she thinks he's dead.

She's back to being a chorus girl in a seedy Parisian nightclub when WW1 breaks out and she meets the celebrity French fighter pilot Andre Charville (Cary Grant). He's a completely self-absorbed jerk and a womanizer ... so naturally, Suzy falls for him ... and he marries her.

Then Terry re-enters the scene!

This was a pretty enjoyable film up until the convoluted ending. The resolution ruined it all. I won't say anything other than Cary Grant's character got way way better than he deserved.

I'd still recommend this for any fan of the stars, just be aware that the ending sucks.

This hour-long documentary introduces us to several homeless men in North Vancouver who collect bottles for recycling, and who like to race shopping carts.

Yes, it sounds bizarre because it -is- bizarre to see a grown man riding the back of a shopping cart down a steep hill at 50 mph. It's bizarre, sad, funny, dangerous, and fascinating.

The "star" is a big bearded ginger bear who goes by Big Al. He's probably in his late (?) 30s, and lives in the woods in a tent. He collects recyclable bottles from homeowners' blue recycle bins, takes them to the recycle center, then sorts and turns them in for cash. After he has a little money in his pocket he'll steal a shopping cart and ride it down a steep hill for an adrenaline rush.

Early in the film Big Al turns himself in to spend 10 months in jail for an unspecified crime, Once he's out he's ready to make up for lost time.

We're also introduced to Fergie. He's a 49 year old homeless alcoholic who lives in the woods. He's got a couple of kids he never sees and has apparently lived a very hard life.

The guys are all very likable, I just wish I had a better sense of how they got to be in their current situations.

George and Marion Kerby (Cary Grant and Constance Bennett) are major shareholders in a bank that is run by Cosmo Topper (Roland Young). The Kerbys are a wealthy, fun-loving couple who are always up for a good time and believe in living life to its fullest. Cosmo Topper is hen-pecked by his domineering and extremely stuffy wife Clara (Billie Burke). She has him on a strict schedule and diet, and pretty much keeps him from enjoying life.

The Kirbys are killed in an auto accident (George was driving too fast through some country roads) and are surprised to find that they are stuck here on Earth as spirits. They figure it's because they never did anything really bad but also never did any real good ... so they make it their goal to show Topper how to loosen up and live a little ... and maybe that will take them to the next stage in the afterlife.

I'd love to go on and write about a lot of -very- funny scenes here but that may ruin it for people who have not seen the film.

And you definitely should see it if you haven't already. It is truly one of the funniest films of any era.

Highly recommended!

Our story starts in Hong Kong at the "Bar of All Nations" - a place where ex-pats get together for a cocktail. Dan Hardesty (William Powell) is there enjoying a specially-mixed martini at the American Bar when he is jostled by a nearby patron and spills most of it on the floor. That patron is the lovely Joan Ames (Kay Francis). She apologizes, they toast, then part ways ... but not before some sparks fly.

Dan stands there at the entrance to the bar, staring at Joan before he leaves when he is surprised by an American detective who has followed him to Hong Kong to arrest him for murder! Detective Steve Burke is going to take him to San Quentin via the SS Maloa which leaves the next day.

Then we learn that Joan will also be on that ship (with her personal physician.) She's terminally ill (although she looks fabulous) and this is her last hurrah!

Also, on the ship are a couple of Dan's friends ... the drunken trouble-maker Skippy, and the notorious con-woman "Barrel House Betty" who is currently travelling under the guise of the sophisticated and worldly "Countess Barilhaus". These friends are instrumental in keeping Detective Burke occupied while Dan enjoys his doomed shipboard romance with Joan.

This is a sweet film with moments of levity and a heartbreaking finale. They do their best to the truth from each other and make plans to meet at a bar in Agua Calliente, Mexico on New Years Eve; although they both know they will not be around.

William Powell is always fabulous, and rest of the cast does not disappoint.

Recommended!