Reviews

I benefited by watching the 1957 version and this one within hours of each other.

Each has it's weaknesses and strengths. The major weakness IMO of this version was the music used. It intruded and didn't match the mood of the story. Though Ralph Richardson's portrayal doesn't have the bravado of Charles Laughton's, he brought a quiet conviction to the part. Beau Bridges was compared unfavorably to Tyrone Power but he (Bridges) showed the boyish charm that would take in a lonely older woman who would want to mother him or even marry him. Power came across as more mature and world weary though he did bring his own brand of charm to the part. Diana Rigg was very good but I felt Marlene Dietrich in the 1957 film was the better actress, especially, as a native German speaker, she was able to pull off a Cockney (or near enough) accent.

People have said the scene where Sir Wilfred meets the "Cockney" woman differed and that the 1957 version was the correct and superior one have got it wrong. This version's meeting is the one in the short story the movies were based on. Never having seen the play or read a copy I can't say which meeting was used in it but I do own the book that contains the short story and have recently read it.

There are complaints that they followed almost word for word and scene for scene the Wilder version but I don't have a problem with that. A good story is a good story and they wouldn't be the first nor the last to do such a thing.

I watched this on television many a moon ago as a young teenager and I'm now over 60. I really liked this movie and would love to see it again. Since I like British movies of the '40s-early '60s I probably wouldn't be too disappointed seeing it again. I especially like thrillers, suspense, and mysteries. I thought the way they fingerprinted every male in town trying to find the killer was great (I read somewhere that that was used in a real case). Also the notes found with Ezekiel 23:5 "And Aholah played the harlot when she was mine; and she doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians her neighbours . . ." because of the first victim's reputation and the author's opinion of women in general had me running to a Bible and I actually memorized it.

The young man climbing the church tower/belfry (or some high precipice) when he felt cornered really had me hold my breath.

This is all from memory, mind you. It hasn't even been shown on television here in the States in years. I lived in the Los Angeles area when I did see it.

I really really wish it would be made available in a Region 1 DVD though at this point I'd probably take any format and any region I could get!

I was feeling unwell and wanted to lay down and watch a movie to take my mind off it. I was searching on Netflix on the Instant Play and did 1930s romantic comedies. I was very pleasantly surprised when I saw "Evergreen" offered as one of them. I had been searching for the movie since the 1970s, the last time I saw it on PBS in the Los Angeles area. It disappeared about the same time as a Barbra Streisand movie, a remake of "A Star is Born" came out, with the theme song "Evergreen". I can't be certain but it seems to be more than a coincidence.

It was even better than I remembered. Sometimes it's a bad idea to watch a movie you hadn't seen since you were a child or a teen since it often disappoints. "Evergreen" didn't do that. :) Jessie Matthews is absolutely charming and Sonny Hale is less annoying than I remembered him being. I enjoyed the 1890s-early 1900s music during the first segment (I like that kind of music). The song "When You've Got a Little Springtime in Your Heart" written in 1934 but supposed to be from ca. 1904 didn't jar or sound like it didn't belong to the earlier era, but also wasn't made to sound stereotypically "Gay (or Naughty) Nineties". The music in this picture hit all the right notes (pun intended).

A bit of trivia--"Tinkle, Tinkle, Tinkle", a song from this movie, was used as the closing music in Alfred Hitchcock's 1935 "39 Steps" when Hannay and Pamela are backstage at the London Palladium and had uncovered the spy ring and their secret-- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0026029/trivia

The video and audio are both very good, not in the least muddy or dark.

It's a very well written story. Just when it looks to slow down it picks right back up. Very funny, sweet, and just plain fun. The nostalgic moment when Harriet Green, Jr, is in the court room to prove her innocence of defrauding the public is a highlight of the picture. She is harmonizing with her mother's recording of "When You've Got a Little Springtime in Your Heart" and it really does bring a lump to the throat. They made and used a cylinder recording and didn't artificially amplify it (other than to be able to hear it). It sounds just like real cylinder recordings do.

This was the first Carry On movie I ever saw and that was by accident. My father took me (10 years old) and my brother (4 years old) with him. He was wanting to see a Danny Kaye movie. It was probably during the summer otherwise I wouldn't have been going to a picture show at night, especially in the middle of the week when the program changed. What I remembered most clearly the shower scene. When the movie hit television, part of that scene was cut out (three guesses, first two don't count, as to which part).

It was shown as a double feature with "Please Turn Over". What _was_ my father thinking??? It was both of those movies that started my love affair with British comedies. Though I never again saw any of the Carry On movies in a theater, I did see most of the '50s-early '60s installments on television. Sometimes I wonder what I missed since TV at that time (1960s) wouldn't have shown certain things (such as that "au natural" part of the shower scene).

The Carry On movies haven't been shown in the U.S. in several years. :(