MovieGuy-10924

You'll be disappointed.

A lot of people were generous with their reviews and lamented that it went downhill after season 4. I stopped watching in the middle of season 2.

Without any spoilers, let me say that the things I loved about the series, the things that made it sweet and endearing and beautiful, started falling off little by little, until they almost didn't exist by the middle of season 2.

The writers broke their agreement with the audience. They first did this by repeatedly providing outcomes to situations that didn't logically follow. Then they added situations for no other reason than drama. Then all humor, which was sweetly plentiful early on, slowly fell away until there was none at all. Hope was the next casualty. The final nail in the coffin was when the characters that you've put your time and faith into lose the qualities that drew you to them in the first place.

For an 8/10 experience, watch through the beautiful Christmas episode in season 1 and then turn this turkey off before the writers have the chance to ruin it for you.

Poldark had been a completely moral character always trying to do what's right...up to now. He goes completely out of character and sleeps with another woman. This messes up the only remaining worthwhile relationship in the whole series. There's no reason to continue watching this stupid series.

The series started off well with the main relationship between Poldark and Demelza growing, along with absolutely beautiful scenery. But pretty soon it became obvious that everything that's going to happen is totally at the whim of the writers. When Poldark was on trial, he definitely should have gone to jail based on everything the audience saw, but a sudden deus ex machina set him free. For all of everyone's hard work, nothing gets better and everything just gets worse. The writers are just trying to create more drama without any depth or any humor. All humor was left behind after the first few episodes.

How did the writers so badly lose their way.

I could go on at length about all the things this mini-series got right. I enjoyed it tremendously. But I don't want to give any spoilers.

This detective/mystery story follows a detective who has just been transferred to Scotland Yard. He goes to visit his brother who is playing golf by himself. When the detective is called away for an important call, his brother is accidentally killed when he falls after being struck by a golf ball. An inquest deems it a freak accident, but the detective believes it's murder. The sequence of events that follows is pure entertainment.

The director, Daniele D'Anza has done other things I've seen but they all seem to be 2nd or 3rd tier productions. I have, however, enjoyed his efforts so much that I'm surprised he wasn't given more high budget movies to direct. He makes absolutely the best use of this long (6 episode) format. You can tell a great director when a conversation in a bar or walking to a door keeps you on the edge, but still there are down times where you can relax and laugh. The reveal of the main bad guy is masterfully crafted.

The actors, for the most part, do an exceptional job in their roles. D'Anza even seems to be able to use the lesser actors to the greatest effect. I've enjoyed some of these actors in other things like Aroldo Tieri, Mario Carotenuto, Andrea Checchi, Luisella Boni, and Marina Berti, whereas others were new to me.

The writing is likewise excellent. Except for the poor quality videotape, this is all a high quality top-notch endeavor.

I can't recommend this enough.

This movie is full of great actors but Lilia Silvi is the key. The way she executes her role is the glue that binds the whole thing together. As great as other performances are in this film, they would all be for naught if not for Lilia Silvi. On the strength of her performance in this film, I have watched, and enjoyed, many other of her films.

Of the other roles, the uncle, the father, and the mother provide the most interest and support. I'm very impressed at the range of characters that Giuditta Rissone, who played the mother, is capable of playing. The not-too-bright boyfriend was necessary to the storyline, but a different take on the character would have probably worked better in the movie.

Even though this is just a silly romantic comedy, Lilia Silvi is amazing. I highly recommend this movie just to watch her.

First let me say that Sergio Bruni could really sing so well. I enjoyed listening to every song. The guy could sing the telephone book and it would be beautiful.

But for someone who can emote so well in his singing and stage presence, he looked like a marionette in this movie. He seemed so ill at ease in front of the camera that I'm not surprised that his speaking role was limited. I blame the director because anyone can see that Sergio Bruni has the necessary talent to execute any role.

Now having said that, his screen time was still the most entertaining over everyone else. I would have definitely turned this movie off if not for him.

The movie was quite shallow in spite of itself. It tried to include some qualities to give it depth, but it failed. The happy ending just "happened" without any story line bringing it there. The comic elements were mostly inane. Bruni playing piano was unintentionally comical. Throughout the whole movie I was just waiting for Bruni's next song.

I recommend this movie only if you're looking for some Sergio Bruni music videos, otherwise give it a miss.

This movie gets 7 stars only because of Renato Carosone. He is an excellent performer, an excellent actor, and a better singer than I expected.

There were only two main characters in the movie that I cared about, Renato and Salvatore's aunt. They were definitely the most sympathetic characters in the film. The stepmother did well, but there was nothing special about her performance.

Renato's drummer, Gegé di Giaccomo is a great performer and very engaging. He should have had a bigger role.

The scene at the end where everything resolves at Renato's performance is the best scene in the film, and it's all because of Carosone. Two years ago I had never heard of him and today I think he's a great talent.

I would only recommend this movie if you were interested in watching Carosone perform, otherwise give it a miss.

This movie and Maruzzella were both films made in the 50s about headstrong beach girls. This is a better movie but Maruzzella is a little deeper.

Cerasella is under the care of her brother since both parents are gone. She's getting to a wild age so her brother works out a marriage for her to a rich young man. Cerasella, however, has other ideas.

The movie is not very deep and even though Cerasella is fun and engaging and the movie works out to everyone's satisfaction, I don't have the feeling that she will ever be happy until she matures some more.

These movies always throw in a chaotic comic character and this is her brother. It would have been a better movie if he had been a little more serious.

This is an OK film to watch once.

The movie is about as predictable as they come, but I still never wanted to turn it off and I watched through to the end. It was executed well and had enough depth to keep me interested. In cases like this I like to examine the film and try to see what qualities kept me engaged. I would discuss this in greater detail, but I don't want to include any spoilers.

Irasema Dilián plays the part of a pretty and kind orphan whose favorite possession is a book of fairy tales. She has worked herself into believing that she is really a princess and she dreams that her prince will come for her eventually. Her belief in this fantasy leads her to make some hasty life choices.

It seemed to me that in real life, she could never be happy living in a fantasy like that but without giving too much away, I really appreciated her character's growth.

None of the other characters in the movie seemed to stand out much aside from one of the workers in the orphanage and one other orphan.

I would have appreciated additional character development surrounding the other orphan and I would have liked to have seen some of the loose ends tied up better but I still enjoyed this movie, although I believe it wouldn't be appreciated by all audiences.

After watching this movie my first impulse was to trash it, but as I thought more about it I realized that there were many things about it that I enjoyed. I'll talk about some of the positives and negatives.

First, it's always a pleasure to sit down with Totò. Even at his worst he is smile inducing. Here he was more than just smile inducing even though not always laugh out loud funny.

There is a very strong cast of supporting characters in this film. As ever, I'm very happy to see Mario Castellani show up. I wish he could have had a bigger part. He's an excellent straight man and his supporting style often seems perfect to draw the most out of Totò's performance. A young and beautiful Marisa Merlini had a small part that I really enjoyed, even though the premise of the scene was a bit overly silly. Many other supporting characters did a good job. Some others could have easily been left out.

I thought the scene in the graveyard caretaker's house was pretty funny where Totò who is covered in white paint meets up with his wife wearing face cream and they mistake each other for ghosts.

The movie was a bit frenetic and didn't always transition well from scene to scene. The hold-that-tiger ending had a couple of fun moments but probably could have been cut.

Totò tried to recreate the extremely funny Harpo Marx stamp scene from Monkey Business but it didn't work well because Totò's comic attitude is different than Harpo's. Harpo has the comic attitude of a chaotic toddler who has absolutely no concern for consequences. Totò is every bit as funny as Harpo but has a comic style of an older person.

There were a couple of jokes that were slightly racist and culturally insensitive and I enjoyed them very much. When watching films from another time we have to be understanding of that time and not necessarily judge them by current standards.

The director and the writers threw the kitchen sink at this movie. Sometimes it was overwhelming but sometimes it worked and at least they gave it a shot.

I can't say that I recommend this movie but it does have some redeeming qualities.

There are some fun moments in this film but it goes more and more off the rails as it progresses. This is explained by the end, but it would have been better if it would have followed through with a complete story.

Still it's very interesting to see a young Totò, Carlo Campanini, and Galeazzo Benti, but even more it's so interesting to see a young slim Franca Marzi long before her role as Wanda, the co-prostitute and friend of Cabiria in Nights of Cabiria. As ever I'm also very happy to see Mario Castellani who shows up in most Totò films. I guess for me the appeal of this film is to see all of these excellent actors and actresses when they were younger.

This film is cute but it's not for everyone and I wouldn't recommend to anyone to go out of their way to see it.

This is one episode of the 9-part made for TV series Tutto Totò. In this episode Totò plays a character who works in a law office. He has a complex that makes him unable to talk to women that he finds attractive. Because of this, his boss and his boss's wife make a bet about whether she would be able to get Totò to go on a date with her.

I found this episode to be pretty funny, and I laughed out loud a few times. I wouldn't classify this as a movie, but more as a sketch in the style of Carol Burnett. Some of the jokes were recycled from Toto's film Malafemmina but that did not detract from the fun. I enjoyed seeing Walter Chiari interacting with Totò. Chiari has a great ability to be silly and this was a good opportunity to use it. Mario Castellani is a masterful straight man.

I recommend this episode for everyone.

The premise of the movie is really quite good. Pretty women, blackmail, and murder. But the interesting premise is quickly squandered and the whole movie turns into a second rate Weekend At Bernie's. It recovers somewhat at the end, but it's a shame when I think of what it could have been.

Let me just say that this is Sylva Koscina at her prettiest and I would be happy to stare at her in front of a brick wall for an hour and a half.

One of the four friends is a nun and this character was kept out of the movie until the end. I understand why, seeing how her character was used in the story, but she should have been brought in earlier, maybe on a tangent story. Instead they had her mother fill on for her as the 4th friend. This change worked well, but there was no reason why this level of trust should have been given to someone who didn't have the same history as the other friends.

I believe that a movie requires 3 main things to be good, good direction, good acting, and good writing. The acting was the only thing this movie got right pretty much throughout. I would have thrown 2/3 of the writing in the trash and had them try again. Mario Mattoli is hit and miss as a director. I love some of his films, but others leave something to be desired. Another director, such as Dino Risi, would have really been able to run with this good premise.

Now having said all of that, I'm sure I'll watch this movie again.

When I started watching this movie I thought it was destined to be one of my favorites. The premise was terrific. A bored wealthy ex-military man puts an ad in the paper looking for adventure. The pile of responses that he receives is so intriguing and offers so much promise.

Then as soon as the movie gets going it's full of cheesy characters, unlikely scenarios, and unbelievable situations.

Ronald Coleman is amazing as the main character. It's incredible to see how easily he transitioned to talking films when you hear so many stories of actors who failed.

The other actors and even sometimes Coleman behaved like no real rational person would. What a disappointment from a movie that started so well.

Someone needs make a movie with that is worthy of this sensational premise, but in the meantime, don't bother watching this movie.

These Italian White Telephone films are real treasures. I thoroughly enjoy the fun, lighthearted, silly situations that drive these wonderful films.

Paolo Stoppa and Vittorio De Sica trade identies for one reason and then are forced to continue as each other long after the original necessity of the trade is long past.

De Sica is very sympathetic in this role, as usual. María Mercader is lovely. I wish they could have given her a larger part in the movie. It would have made the love story more meaningful. This was done a little better in Signor Max. And although this story wraps up a little too quickly and a little too illogically, it is still a very fun ride.

I definitely recommend this fun film.

Totò is very fun and silly in this movie, and it is funny and a pleasure to watch. I don't understand why it had a low score.

Totò is a professor who sells his soul to the devil so he can win the Tour of Italy and gain the love of a woman. The way it plays out is very creative and very well done. The acting, writing, and directing is excellent.

There are a few scenes that are too silly for me, but I don't let them interfere with my enjoyment of the movie.

The supporting cast does an excellent job and I have seen many of them in other Totò movies as well as other fun Italian films.

I definitely recommend this movie. I believe that everyone can enjoy it.

First I have to say that Anna Maxwell Martin is a fine actress, and she does a wonderful Job, but she is not Elizabeth Bennet. I was never able to accept her in the role and it affected how I viewed the whole movie.

Matthew Rhys is closer to Darcy, and he likewise does a tremendous job, but he still would not have been my first choice for the part.

Regarding the story, every Austen novel is about a girl/woman who grows on her journey to become the best woman she can. Which really flummoxes me as to why someone would throw that to the wind and stuff these characters into a whodunnit instead. I feel almost like there was a bait and switch.

Now having said that, the movie was enjoyable. The circumstances surrounding the murder are all actually quite believable and wrap up nicely in the end.

I enjoyed this film. It's definitely one of the better Monogram Chan films, but it had a few big plot holes that were just too big for me to be able to ignore and get beyond.

The biggest plot hole was that the jukebox girl, hired by the bad guys, volunteered info to the police. She must have been in on the whole thing, otherwise, why was she working in a secret room behind a hidden door?

The next problem is less of a plot hole than unclear movie production. What I had thought were two different women, was actually just one woman. If you're not going to be clear in your story, you risk losing your audience.

That said, I enjoy these Chan films and I'm going to continue watching all of them.

Although this was a low budget film, it had many of the aspects that make Charlie Chan films fun, like all of the interesting characters, but I just could not accept one thing. All the suspects were in the same room. How could one of them continually get up to spy on everyone and commit murder without everyone else seeing it?

I just couldn't accept that.

It seems like something that could have easily been explained with the least bit of effort. Like maybe instead of keeping everyone in the same room together, the writers could have given them free reign of part of the house.

Other than that, I enjoyed most of this film.

He finds the Chinese Cat, he finds the famous stolen diamond, then what does Charlie Chan do? He intentionally heads directly over to the murderers' hideout without first calling the police. Why?! What was to be gained? Only so that he could be put in a situation that the would have to escape from.

The rest of the movie had some fun aspects. There were the twins, the Chinese Cat, secret passageways, the wonderfully engaging and extremely personable cab driver, etc., but when Chan starts doing incredibly stupid stuff, then what's the point? Since he and his son can't die, you have to expect some Deus Ex Machina, which comes in the form of all the crooks running out of the room but leaving Chan and his son alone with a gun.

Then running through a funhouse at the end made this more of a Bowery Boys movie than Charlie Chan.

This movie proves the point that if you're going to cut the budget, cut the writing budget last. I can accept poor sets, unknown supporting actors, and other low budget actions, but Charlie Chan doing stupid stuff is something you just can't have.

Jane Austen wrote gold. Its It's a shame that the people making this movie didn't have any faith in the author. The changes were enough that this is almost a different story.

If the story wasn't what they wanted to produce, maybe they could have called it "Fanny Price - Based On Jane Austen's Mansfield Park". Then maybe I wouldn't have felt deceived.

Jane Austen was a spectacular author. In this book she was able to take the loan of a gold chain and turn it into the biggest dilemma of the century. It's a storyline that really shows Fanny's character and it really stood out to me in the book, but it was left out of this movie.

The character of the uncle was extremely changed. It was quite annoying.

The actors and actresses all did a tremendous job in this movie. That's why I gave it a 7. I wish I could have seen them all in Mansfield Park.

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie and I love the Charlie Chan character, but he's a real bonehead in this film. Choosing to reenact the murder scene of the opera with an escaped mental patient, a vulnerable actress, and a bunch of tightly wound trigger-happy cops is asking for trouble. I just can't imagine Charlie Chan doing such a thing.

That said, Warner Oland is tremendous in the role, as always. Boris Karloff delivers a beautiful role as a frightening madman while still being extremely sympathetic. This is a much richer performance than you're likely to see in many of his films.

There are some top-notch performances by some of the supporting cast.

Oscar Levant's faux opera is quite good. I really wish it were a complete work.

I highly recommend this movie for everyone.

Lilia Silvi plays an orphan (Carina) who is taken in by two sisters and their father and who becomes part of the family. The three girls then support each other through hardships on their way to try to find success and happiness.

Lilia Silvi is always wonderful and carries this whole movie along on her back, with the help of a few good supporting characters. Without her, it would have probably been a stinker. Even still she could only do so much with the script she was given.

The movie never bothered to explore each of the hardships that befell the girls. Every time there was a hardship they all pretty much just said, OK, and moved forward. This always left me confused. The movie could have been much richer had they explored some of the details of each of these situations rather than just blowing past them. There was a problem that finally came along that lasted for a while. This gave the movie a little more depth (very little), but at least it was something.

And then Lilia Silvi's character always just did more and more to help out and we never saw it as any real difficulty for her. It might have been better to show her struggling a bit.

I gave it 7 stars because Lilia Silvi is a pleasure, but I probably won't bother to ever watch it again.

This is a cute film where a rich man with two daughters loses his wealth and is left with only debts. One daughter decides that she needs to marry someone wealthy while the other daughter explores a singing career.

The first daughter, Marisa Vernati, appeared to be trying to channel Lilia Silvi, but she was different enough that it wasn't annoying. The other sister, Dedi Montano, spent half of the movie singing. She had a very nice voice and a number of excellent operatic pieces were chosen, so it was actually pleasant, except whenever she went really high to show off her range.

Overall I would say that it was an enjoyable film. It could have been even better if they would have dropped some singing and added additional character development, but they appeared to really be pushing Dedi Montano. She only appeared in three films, so I guess she never caught on.

You also need good writing and direction. Unfortunately, this movie had no direction. I'm not saying that the director didn't work hard to ensure that the movie had a lot of style. It definitely had a lot of style. Totò having a conversation with a talking crow can't help but have style. I'm saying that the movie didn't go anywhere. It literally had no direction. The actors, particularly Totò, were strong enough to know their craft without needing direction. Ninetto Davoli had style as well, but at times his acting was not very polished. There was a scene where he went from smiling to covering his eyes and going "boo-hoo". It's probably the worst acted crying that I've ever seen in a movie. Not that I mean to trash him. I thought his style was what was most important to the movie, and in that he succeeded well.

The movie didn't seem to know what it wanted to be or what it wanted to say. It had a number of sort of vignettes that, if they were trying to make a statement, they were lost on me. If your film is trying to make a statement and additional explanation is necessary, have you really succeeded? I have sought out additional explanation and have decided that at times Pasolini completely missed the mark from what he appeared to be shooting for. I have no desire to seek out any of his other films after seeing this one. There's a scene where a bunch of dancing boys miss the bus. That's quite a good allegory for the whole movie.

Ennio Morricone's music is, as always, sensational.

Watch this movie only if you like films with style but no substance, or if you're trying to watch all of Totò's films, like I am. Otherwise, don't waste your time.

Sofia Loren and Vittorio Gassman do a good job acting this movie. The roles are intentionally silly but they are able to keep them from going overboard until the end of the movie, when everything falls apart. In other films, it seems sometimes that Vittorio Gassman is too aware of the camera, but not here. He allows his character to go wild, but I never felt that it was too much, until the end.

The direction is pretty good, until the end. There were some good funny scenes and everything seemed to flow well.

The writing was also pretty good, until the end when I wasn't sure what was going on. Even at the end there were some good scenes and some good jokes, it's a shame that everyone allowed the story to fall apart. This also had the negative effect of losing the thread of all of the tenants, the neighbor, and even the main story regarding the apartment. I would have liked to have had some closure on these stories.

I laughed a number of times during this movie, but they lost me after a while, and on top of that, what ever happened to the ghosts? Why were they given the apartment? It would have been better, and would have made more sense, if there had been ghosts. Without them, the whole premise of them getting the apartment for free was lost.

Watch this movie only if you want to see Sofia Loren at the height of her beauty and you would be happy watching her in front of a brick wall for 1 hour and 32 minutes.