madoc

An incredible little English film for so many reasons. First it's a rare look a Laurence Olivier in a light comedy. While his performance is not up the standard he would latter set as one of the greatest actors of the 20th century, he is perfectly believable as the hoodwinked barrister. Historically this film is of great interest because of both where and when it was shoot. Being English it didn't have the big budget of the Hollywood films of the same era and it often shows, but more interesting is the fact this movie filmed just prior to the war and shows an England that would soon be gone. When we watch it today we think in terms of modern morality and over look the fact that this movie and its closest American counter part `It Happened One Night' were in their day as risqué as `Fatal Instinct' was in our time. But after watching and enjoying this movie the first time I can't help but feel sadness when I watch it today. With half of film shoot before 1950 gone, saving the remaining films means hard choices, and unfortunately films like this are often passed over to save movies that we all consider important. The color shifting, lack of contrast, and generally poor quality of the print most often seen is heartbreaking. This movie along with `It Happened One Night' are perfect to curl up with a love one under a blanket on cool a cool evening and watch, or better yet why not a double feature.

If you like me have spent hours in front of the monitor playing Tomb Raider you will enjoy this movie. The levels (er.. scenes) follow the typical TR formula complete with secrets, bosses, and lots of gun fire. While some have complained that the movie has no plot or a plot that is hard to follow most of this comes from the way the movie is put together, but any fan of the game will feel right at home. Overall it was a truthful adaptation of the game, a series of nearly impossible levels with scenes joining them to move the story along. For those not familiar with the game, the only advice I can give is wait for the movie to come out on video and in the mean time play some TR.

I loved this movie... its a powerful tale shot in realtime, that shows two pivitol hours in the life of a single girl... As someone who has worked in the hotel industry the thing that struck me was the fact that if you changed the langague to English it could be sit in an American city. It a warm truthful picture of life.