Reviews

Not being a "Games" fan, just reviewing this movie for what it is.

Visually impressive. Actually liked the singing and songs.

Thought it had not so subtle messages about the world today. There are people who will sell their soul to keep an easy life even if it means hurting other people. Snow's grandmother was a perfect example.

As for the 3 chapters, only chapter 2 was unique to the Hunger Games. The other chapters consisted of school/academy competitions similar to a Harry Potter movie. And a boy/girl relationship chapter that happens in nearly every romcom or drama movie where the boy does nearly anything to keep the girl

Despite the length, felt it moved at an acceptable pace. This may be due to my lack of having to continually compare the movie to the book. But realized about halfway through that there will be more sequels to the prequel.

Assuming some of the very negative reviews are due to the lack of any obvious LGBT scenes.

Note: This reviewer has not read the book or seen any of the adaptations. So, this review will not be a comparison to other versions.

This was a very entertaining film. The story was fast paced and an easy 90 minute watch. Definitely had a "Tale of Two Cities" sentiment with Alan Breck agreeing to make a similar sacrifice as Sydney Carton.

The "love story" was not that believable with Warner Baxter in the Alan Breck role. Did not see the chemistry. Maybe Errol Flynn or Tyrone Power or even Douglas Fairbanks. But not that hard to overlook. Who am I to judge what a woman may desire?

Contains most elements of a watchable film: good actors, good story, surprise elements, action scenes, evil villains, and a pretty girl. Recommend this to all, especially Freddie Bartholomew fans.

Change rural western PA with somewhere in a south American jungle. Replace the stranded people in a farmhouse with a group of environment activists in a cage. Replace zombies with native cannibals. Throw in multiple failed escape attempts. Captives fighting with each other.

Replace black and white with color. And you basically have this movie.

The main message of this movie is to show the evil behind the relationship between pharmaceutical companies and corrupt government officials. Unfortunately the plot of a husband suspicious of his young, attractive wife distracts from this message, then morphs into his search for those responsible for her death.

The details of this plot become somewhat unbelievable. Would a high ranking government official turn over a highly classified document to a young married woman (half his age) on the promise of a sexual liaison sometime in the future? Then despite not having the liaison occurring, sending an incriminating letter documenting the "deal" and professing his love? There had to be a better way to bring about her demise and continue the story of exposing the corruption.

Also, did not understand the ending. Wouldn't it have been a better tribute to his wife to continue to expose the corruption instead of accepting his death?

The movie, despite criticizing the decisions made by "big pharma" due to the collateral deaths of vaccine "test subjects", it also subtlety exposing the moral dilemma these companies face. In the movie, it is admitted that the TB vaccine does work against TB, but some suffer deaths. How many would have died from TB, if the vaccine was delayed by 3 more years of testing? Just a fictional story.

Also, the movie "Blood Diamond" essentially uses a similar plot but diamond mining substituted for vaccine manufacturing.

** Contains Spoilers**

If they just had a different title for this film, it might be more appreciated from younger audiences. It also could be titled, "Whatever Happened to Baby and Mildred".

Besides the somewhat unbelievable plot of a pre-med student with means becoming obsessed with a floozy waitress, I was amazed at Phillips response to hearing that Mildred's baby had died, "I'm glad". That takes pro-choice to a new level. This would not get a great reception from today's PC world.

Also, Mr. Miller (the baby's father) would have a few less schillings in his Lloyds of London bank account by today's standards. The movie does not explain why Mildred did not take legal action. Was Mr. Miller's cavalier attitude for ignoring his own child's welfare a sign of the times?

Despite the story line not being very believable (pre-med student sacrificing career and principles for unattractive floozy), it is worth a viewing just to see these fabled actors in their early roles, especially the beautiful Frances Dee. Who in their right mind would choose Mildred over Sally?

I would have liked the movie better if Phillip did not get out of the gutter. Why a happy ending for this undeserving loser?