pauldeboef

Wonderful gay movie. Really one of the best I have ever seen. Great acting, especially by the protagonist. In the first scenes he is riding on his bicycle through the streets of San Francisco. Then he enters a ferry to Sausalito. There's a perfect cohesion between the images and the music of Sid Ramin (Stiletto soundtrack), creating a wonderful dreamlike atmosphere. Near Sausalito he meets another guy on a bicycle. They find a quiet and remote place to have sex. Then they move to his apartment in San Francisco. They call up two other guys to join them. Together they have some naked playtime fun.

It's a realistic story without comedy. There are only four actors and they improvise a lot. The guys are very beautiful, and pretty unknown. This was fifty years ago and I wonder what has become of them. They were so happy together. Are they still alive?

THE CRASH is a wonderful short film from start to finish. It is directed by William Dieterle in a very sophisticated style. The Warner Archive Collection DVD-R is an excellent transfer.

"Ruth Chatterton has given the finest portrayal of her career" says George Brent in the trailer. I agree and consider this film as her best. She was miscast in some of her films, in ''Lilly Turner" for instance, but the character of Linda Gault fits her like a glove. Chatterton does not act in this film, she IS her character. Her perfect acting is a knock-out in every scene. I never saw her any better.

Linda Gault is a spoiled rich woman, bored with life. When she is telling a lie to her husband she gets in big trouble. Eventually it will change her life completely.

CHATTERBOX is a combination of drama and comedy.. The film was less predictable than I thought. Jenny (Anne Shirley), a young girl from Vermont, wants to be an actress. Her mother was an actress and her most famous role was in the 1890's stage play "Virtue's Reward". Jenny is a bit otherwordly, living in a world of her own, the bygone world of the 1890's. She meets a young artist/painter Phil (Phillips Holmes). She is secretly in love with him. He appears to be not interested in her. Reluctantly he takes her to a theatrical company in New York where she can get a part in her favorite play "Virtue's Reward": This melodramatic play has now become a comedy, but she doesn't know that and she takes the part very seriously. Phil worries about what will happen when she finds out the truth about the whole thing.

This is a wonderful film from start to satisfying finish. Perfect acting by the entire cast. Young Anne Shirley gives a terrific performance. She's very intense and she makes even the comedy parts dramatic and honest. Her trustfulness and enthusiasm are poignant. The very talented Phillips Holmes (now undeservedly degraded to B-films) is also surprisingly good and totally convincing. A remarkable film. I am hoping for a DVD release for a better print quality!

GRUMPY is now an underrated film. It was George Cukor's first film as a dialogue director. It's a combination of an American production with first-class English acting and speaking. There's an entire absence of American accent. Cyril Maude is at his best in the role that he made famous in the stage play (in four acts). This film has the addition of a few scenes that could not be given on the legitimate stage. The film is rather static and stage-bound but nevertheless very entertaining. Cyril Maude makes of Grumpy a magnetic personality. Also good acting by Frances Dade and the excellent Phillips Holmes. Very funny dialogues.

The film survives intact and was shown at the George Cukor Retrospective in London in 2004 and at Lincoln Center in 2013. However, the film is curently only available on poor quality (DVD) transfers. I am hoping for a release in the Warner Archive Collection with their top-notch print quality DVD's.

In 1930 many films were very static and stilted, but not "Man to Man". Allan Dwan was a great and inventive director. There are many scenes with camera movements of people walking down the streets. It's a beautifully photographed film. There are interesting psychological images : The bank teller of Mike is a giant cage, a prison, to convey that Mike is emotionally imprisoned. Mike or other people ascend the stairs when a revelation or something difficult is about to happen. It's an intense drama of powerful human interest. The action takes place in Hardinsville, a small southern town, where Barber John (Grant Mitchell), after 18 years in prison, returns to start life again. His son Mike (Phillips Holmes) is suffering and ashamed of his father's past. The manner in which both learn to love each other provides a story of compelling interest. This was Grant Mitchell's first appearance in a talking picture. He gives a performance of moving sincerity. The younger leads played by Phillips Holmes and Lucille Powers are also extremely well done. Phillips Holmes (good-looking as always) was at his best in a dramatic role, not in comedy. He was a quiet actor whose characters often came forth deeper than the role asked for. With a good director and a dramatic role he was a great actor. He could be very bland (in "Confessions of a Co-Ed"or "Caravan") and he could be brilliant (in "The Devil's Holiday", "American Tragedy" or "Broken Lullaby"). In this film he is perfect, totally convincing and intense in his repressed feelings, emotionally imprisoned and hiding his feeling away. He does not act but he IS his character. Only in the initial scenes in the fraternity house the actors are a bit awkward. Some of the opening scenes of the sport competition look like stock footage while in other takes it is really Phillips Holmes jumping over the hurdles.

In 1931 Constance Bennett's star shone brighter than ever. At this point of her career she was Hollywood's highest paid actress. While filming BOUGHT, Warner Brothers paid her the all-time high salary of $30.000 a week. This is a superior Pre-code drama film and one of Constance Bennett's most unusual films, but certainly one of her best.

The advertising slogan for BOUGHT was : "She sold her self for a taste of life". When the film came out in 1931 it received rave reviews, above all because of Constance Bennetts natural acting and her fine portrayal of a modern girl. It was one of her most successful films. It's a good story - Constance Bennett is cast as a young woman of rather poor background who lives with her mother. When her mother dies she moves to an apartment. She gets a job as a fashion model at a modiste shop where she meets an elderly man (played by Bennett's real life father Richard). She loves to read literature and he gives her a few books with rather suggestive titles (including James Harvey Robinson's "The mind in the making" and Molnar's "Eva and Derelict boat") and they soon become friends. But she is put off by his age and later she gets bored by his company and she begins to avoid him. She falls for a young writer (Ben Lyon), but what she desires is a wealthy society life and she starts an affair with a rich guy (Ray Milland). But she does not feel happy with him.

The film has nothing really spectacular, but it's a very engaging, charming and beautiful film. It's indeed very well and naturally acted by Constance - less melodramatic than in her previous films - and she's a powerful presence here. She makes her character sensitive, intelligent and alluring, and she looks more beautiful than ever. I never saw her look any better. In my opinion this is Constance Bennett at her best. Another highlight of BOUGHT is the presence of Richard Bennett who gives a very poignant and realistic portrayal as her father. His screen presence is really something special here. What makes this film rather touching is the fact that Constance Bennett befriends a mysterious elderly man, a man unknown to her, but he is her long lost father.

BOUGHT is somewhat more realistic than Constance Bennett's previous films like THE EASIEST WAY, SIN TAKES A HOLIDAY or BORN TO LOVE. There's also some nice music in the background now and then, which heightens the atmosphere.

Highly recommended.

UPTOWN NEW YORK is an underrated romance/drama picture, it really shows more depth and more feeling than many other movies of the early 1930s. Jack Oakie received an Oscar nomination for his acting in "The Great Dictator", but he should have got an Oscar for his absorbing portrayal of Eddie Doyle in UPTOWN NEW YORK. In many scenes Oakie does not act but he IS his character. The scenes when he is waiting in the hospital while his wife is operated in the next room are stunning. I have never seen something like this before. Beautiful Shirley Grey is also totally convincing and perfect as the beloved New York gal. (In some of the scenes she looks like Madonna). Leon Ames is good as the successful Jewish doctor, but Jack Oakie steals the show and makes UPTOWN NEW YORK - 80 years ago now - a great film with a timeless quality. And for a 1932 movie, it's quite modern in feel. The film has many imaginative scenes with great photography. The quality of the DVD from Alpha Entertainment is pretty bad and the framing is not very good. But Alpha is the only DVD available.

THE EASIEST WAY is an outstanding film, despite its shortcomings. As so many early talkies it has rather poorly developed episodes, while the film covers a period of about 5 years: At the beginning of the film Laura and her sister Peg still live at home with their parents in New York. Later, Peg got married and she lives with her spouse and child in a house in the country.

The varied & brilliantly photographed scenes make it really entertaining: The camera climbing up the skyscraper and into the photo studio's, the opening scene of the poor New York apartment with the whole family lying in their beds, the scene of Bennett and Montgomery on horseback and sitting by the lake.

It's professionally acted by the entire cast (save Robert Montgomery). Beautiful Constance Bennett makes her character of the dreamy and uncertain girl totally believable : With a restrained, anxious attitude, never totally at ease. (In real life Bennett had a somewhat different character !) And Anita Page as her more earthy sister. Clark Gable has a small but important role, one of his very first - and he looks quite natural. Robert Montgomery was better and believable in 1931's INSPIRATION with Garbo. But here in his role as a journalist he is pretty annoying. Adolphe Menjou comes across as more sympathetic. And Marjorie Rambeau plays her usual role but she is amazing.

The final christmas scene is very unusual and beautiful. It's like a scene in a dream : It uplifts the whole film.

Should be seen in a theater for maximum impact.

A unique and fascinating film. Terence Stamp should have received an Oscar for his haunting appearance as an adult man revived after 30 years from a coma he had lapsed into at birth. He is totally convincing as the little child in the body of a grown-up man. Much more effective than Tom Hanks in "Big", but "The mind of Mr. Soames" is not a comedy, although it contains many comical and touching scenes. And in spite of the subject it is surely not an overly sentimental or sensational film, it's rather more a character study (although occasionally it is also very thrilling), in fact it's presented in an almost documentary manner, which makes it the more interesting. The film also gives a nice outlook upon the world & society seen through the eyes of a little child. Outstanding photography, even poetical (the scenes when Soames is happy in the garden), and top quality actors in thoughtful roles. An undeservedly obscure film that should be more widely known.

CODE NAME : EMERALD is an intelligent and intriguing World War 2 espionage film, based on the novel "The Emerald illusion", about a double agent (Ed Harris) in Paris in the days before D-Day. The film has many impressive moments of acting and production. The actors are brilliant, especially Ed Harris, he is at his best here, extremely virile, powerful and sensitive, and Horst Buchholz, who was already a veteran actor at this time, is perfectly cast as the deceitfully charming SS general, and Helmut Berger here in a very uncongenial role. Also fine performances by Max von Sydow, Eric Stoltz and Cyrielle Claire.

The lack of action is not a deficiency but an advantage, it contributes to the fact that the character of the film is rather more than less romantic. Particularly striking are the beautiful locations in Paris: Occupied France, Paris in the spring: The portrait of this era is vividly created. I am also deeply impressed by the musical score by John Addison. It adds a melancholic tone to the whole picture and it emphasizes the fact that all this happened a long time ago.

INSPIRATION is Greta Garbo's third talking picture and less static than "Anna Christie" and "Romance". In 1931 Garbo was at the height of her fame and INSPIRATIION was an expensive MGM production. But now it's an undeservedly obscure Garbo film. The scenes are varied, glamorous and entertaining. You can see clearly it was an expensive production: There are some grand and striking scenes like Garbo and Montgomery in the stairwell, Garbo in the artist studio, the snow scenes, the street scenes at night. Great care was taken with every scene. It's melodrama but there's also some comedy included. (It's very unlike the gloomy "Anna Christie"). Garbo is amazing in this film and very beautiful, from the first scenes when she joins the party, relaxed and smiling - until she sees Montgomery and she realizes what she's missing, till the last scene when she writes the letter. I also like Robert Montgomery here as an introverted man, his acting is great.

I would love to see this film in a theater for maximum impact. Ignore the abysmal reviews by those who are cynical and desire more than fine old-fashioned entertainment. This is true inspiration.

"Laughing sinners" was a pleasant surprise to me. I never knew what a good actress Joan Crawford was until I saw this film. I saw her rather exaggerating performance in "Grand Hotel", and a better performance in 1931's "Possessed", but here she is totally convincing and real. There are moments of great beauty, especially the scenes between Crawford and Clark Gable, moments when the film shows a timeless quality. Gable and Crawford are completely believable as the Salvation Army officers : sincere, vulnerable and intense. Clark Gable in a very unusual role - wise, calm, sensitive and understanding - It makes him powerful in a subtle way. Neil Hamilton is terrific especially in the scene - a very long uninterrupted take ! - when he tries to persuade and seduce Joan Crawford - for a night of bliss. Can he offer her salvation ?

First of all, THUNDER ROCK is a psychological drama, but the film has very much hidden beneath its surface. This film comes disguised as a rather peculiar fantasy tale, but the truth is that it deals with reincarnation, a fact that's already revealed in the first scenes: A message is passed on by telephone from one office clerk to another, and to another and another. Like knowledge that is transmitted from one life to another.

David (Michael Redgrave) who is living completely on his own in a secluded lighthouse, finds a logbook with an old passenger list. This allows him to tune into his subconscious mind to open up the memories of his past lives. The drowned people, "immigrants from the old world": Each one of them represents a part of David's character. Each one of them could have been a person he once was in a former life. If you believe in reincarnation, this is a film you must see. However, Michael Redgrave is superb and so is the rest of the cast in this beautifully photographed film classic.