Reviews

Here is my take on the King Murder which I saw on YouTube. There are a couple of things to watch for in mystery movies. 1: The perp is usually second or third in the cast. 2: He ( or she) is the least obvious person. After The Thin Man with James Stewart is an example of condition number 2. Condition number 2 is what happened in this movie ( as well as an unusual way to commit the crime ( poison on a turntable needle)). I have to admit I figured out who the killer was ( although not the way it was done). The most interesting cast member was leading lady Natalie Moorhead ( Elizabeth Harthorn). Anyone who had ever seen knows she generally plays nasty or less then nice characters ( Including in a number of films with William Powell like Shadow of the Law and The Thin Man). Here she is a good girl. The biggest problem is the star Conway Tearle ( Detective Chief Henry Barton). To make a good detective you need to be smart like Lt. Columbo and Sherlock Holmes or tough like Phillip Marlowe or Sam Spade. Barton falls into neither category. As a matter of fact, Barton not only cannot solve the crime, he is actually saved by the killer. Spoilers ahead: The ending featuring the murder weapon and the way the hero was saved ( Barton was going to touch the needle but the killer stopped him and got pricked instead) is what saves the movie from being below average (3 of 10 stars), to fair 5/10 stars:

The Bomb was an excellent episode of Four Star Playhouse, about three people trapped in a room with a WW Bomb. One treat was John Denher basically playing the same character he played in Apache Territory. Engaged to the heroine Janet ( Margaret Sheridan), and like he did in Apache Territory, losing her to former fiancé Rory Calhoun, here he loses her to Richard Lilliam ( David Niven). Why? He shows he is a weak character who cracks under pressure ( like in Apache Territory). Spoilers ahead: Unlike Apache Territory he does survive. As for Niven, unlike Dehner, he is very cool under pressure ( like Richard Harris in Juggernaut ( another film that dealt with defusing a bomb)), yet unlike Harris, he is not a professional bomb disposal expert and gets lucky not once but twice in the process. Again, it is an excellent episode. I give it 9/10 stars.

I have been watching episodes of Gour Star Playhouse on Tubi, and Shadowed Season 1 Episode 29 is the best so far. It stars Dick Powell as Burt Strode, a man who politicians are pushing to run for the US Senate. He has an interesting dilemma though. He had an affair with a married woman years ago ( he did NOT know she was married), and this happened before he got married to Rhoda ( Francis Dee). The problem is she is dying and wants to see him before she passes away. But on the same day he has to accept the nomination. What does he do? Another problem Is Rhoda, she finds out, because she saw a letter from the woman addressed to him. It is important to note she saw the letter before him, so he was hiding nothing from her. Spoilers ahead: Of course there is a happy ending tor Burt and Rhoda, and Rhoda learns three valuable lessons ( which I will not spoil, but it will make their marriage much better then before). Easy 10/10 stars don't miss this show.

I started watching 4 Star Playhouse on Tubi and what I like is seeing great actors and actresses in unusual situations like Jack Elam and George Macready getting the girl. If you know who they are, you know they generally are the villains. In the Second Season episode 18 Titled A String of Beads, you see Macready as a Count ( spoilers ahead) ending up with Governess Angela Lansbury. It is unusual seeing her as a leading lady instead of an old lady or a villain or both ( like in The Manchurian Candidate). Then there is The Narrator played by none other then Ronald Colman, who I argue had the greatest speaking voice in Hollywood history. This Somerset Maugham Cinderella story is stolen by Colman, who can never be topped ( except by Gary Cooper in The Winning of Barbara Worth, and this was a western which was Cooper's best genre, and was silent so you could not hear Colman speak). Did I forget Nigel Bruce of Dr. Watson fame as Col. Mournay in his only small screen appearance. You simply cannot beat spending time ( and especially listening to) this cast in a 25 minute show. If you are a fan of Lansbury and especially Colman. Did not miss this. Easy 10/10 stars:

Safehouse is a good.thriller. What I like best is the lack of CGI and the decision to use actual camera work when it comes to action scenes, instead of computer generated scenes. The movie is about Carla Perez ( Alondra Delgado) a medical student from Mexicali, Mexico who ends up in the US after fleeing in an abandoned tunnel escaping cartel hit men who killed her brother. She ends up caught between the CIA and the cartel. Spoilers ahead: She is a woman who is a real heroine who saves the life of CIA agent Marshall with her medical skills and in one scene refuses to tell a cartel member where Marshall and Gina ( who the Cartel wants killed so she cannot testify), at the risk of her life, and instead of turning her into Wonder Woman ( which too many films do), they had the more realistic outcome with agent Caskill saving her. The ending is well done as well. Spoilers ahead: Because of her actions, she is actually given American Citizenship ( something the CIA can legally do, so a nice touch), and she will be given the chance to become a doctor. Last but not least, she was given a home and much to her surprise her mom was there waiting for her. Again a good thriller and better then most films made today. Thus. 8/10 stars.

I cannot believe how bad Mafia Mamma is. The worst offender is Star Toni Collette ( Kristen) who looks less Italian then Michelle Pfeiffer in Married To The Mob. Then there is the Kingpin ( from Daredevil) looking mobster who does absolutely nothing. I guess the best one in the movie is Monica Bellucci ( Bianca) but even she is not as beautiful as usual. Now I have seen Mob comedies going back to The Little Giant and The Whole Town's Talkin ( both with Edward G. Robinson) to Avenging Angelo with Sylvester Stallone and Madeleine Stowe and Spike of Bensonhurst and there are two things they all have in common: 1: Humor ( which is non existent here). 2: Characters you like, here there is no one except possibly Kristen's son Dominick. The worst part of the film? Spoilers ahead: The ending where Kristen is put on trial with other criminals and only she gets acquitted. Then she sends Dominick back to America ( she was an American housewife) and becomes a Mafia Don or is it Donna or Dona in Italy. Totally unbelievable. I give it 1/10 stars. The one being for Monica Bellucci. This is easily the worst gangster film I ever saw.

I finally got around to watching Hot Saturday, and as I figured I would not care for it. Why? It is simply not my kind of movie., but I wanted to see more of Nancy Carroll ( Ruth) without watching a musical. She the only thing that I liked in it As far as the other stars, Cary Grant ( Romer) is okay and Randolph Scott ( Bill), who I like in westerns, looks lost without his horse. The story is about Ruth a good girl who is a bank teller who all the men in town want. To be honest, Nancy Carroll is pretty but certainly not a Clara Bow or a Myrna Loy in the 1932 looks department. What the story is about is people believing the worst about someone ( Ruth), even if it isn't true, that includes her no good mom, her boss ( who fired her from her job), Bill ( who she was going to marry) and the entire town. Spoilers ahead: Romer who is a wealthy womanizer ( and the person people said she stayed with), is actually the one who ends up with Ruth. "I have to pay up a bet with a minister who told me, when you actually meet a woman you really want, you will never let her go." So in the end Ruth won out. Anyway it was an okay movie. 5/10 stars.

Reunion At Fairborough is a must see for Robert Mitchum ( Carl) fans. He gives a powerful performance as a Carl a 60 year old business executive basically put out to pasture and replaced by younger people. As he said he made $110k ( in 1985) and replaced by two younger people who make $70k combined. Besides that his wife walks out on him. This is a very similar scenario to Michael Douglas in Falling Down, but he does receive a much better fate, then Douglas who goes psycho. What happens is he was invited to the 40th anniversary to his old squadron in Fairborough, England, and there he Mets up with his old flame Sally (Deborah Kerr), and finds out they had a child together ( who died), and a granddaughter named Sheila who is very anti-American. He is able to win the love and respect of Sheila when she gets to know him. Especially he uses this quote "If you know me and hate me, that is okay, but if he don't know me and hate me, that is damn stupidity." Spoilers ahead: In the end, he stays in England with Sally and Sheila and is able to build a new ( and better) life. Easy 10/10 stars, and a must for Mitchum fans.

40 Pounds of Trouble is a fun movie. What I like is it is the kind of movie you can watch with the kids and as an adult can enjoy as well. Here Steve ( Tony Curtis) is the manager of a Las Vegas casino hotel, is a person who is not as smart as he thinks he is. A big part of the film is him trying to dodge alimony payments to his ex wife by thinking he being in Nevada let's him escape California payments. Of course it is just the ex and her lawyer chasing him down twice in the film, once in the beginning and once at Disneyland just to stick it to him. What makes his life better is a five year old girl named Penny who is left at the casino by her father who has to go back to San Francisco to get money because he lost it all in a poker hand. What no one realizes is the father ended up dying in a car crash. Of course he ends up falling for her ( as well as falling for Chris (Suzanne Pleshette)) Spoilers ahead: One of the best scenes happened in the courtroom where after the county took Penny away, and she explained how her life was better with Steve then her father, because her entire life was living out of hotel rooms. The judge then said she has to be put up for adoption, and Steve wants to adopt, but he cannot because he was single. But he asks Chris to marry him and she says yes and they are going on a honeymoon to Disneyland ( where they took Penny after they found out her dad died). For me this is a very good movie ( not great because of the aggravating Howard Morris and Larry Storch) but certainly not one star as some people here gave it. 8/10 stars from me.

Operation Petticoat is a classic service comedy starring two masters of comedy: Cary Grant ( Commander Matt Sherman) and Tony Curtis ( Lieutenant Nick Holden). Curtis who is a James Garner type con artist, who used the Navy to get ahead who knows how to procure stuff ( legally and illegally alike), is the one who gets most of the laughs, while Grant who is his boss gets all of the best lines. They are both given love interests who are blonde Army Nurses who are stuck on a submarine called "The Sea Tiger" which eventually is painted pink. Of course the women are the exact opposite. Sophisticated Lieutenant Duran ( Dina Merrill) for Curtis and well endowed ( in the Bra Size department) and clumsy Lieutenant Crandall ( Joan O'Brien) for Grant. There are also a lot of funny scenes ( especially one involving a pig who was named "Seaman Hornsby" by Curtis). Spoilers ahead: Almost everything is in told in flashback from the perspective of Grant, and as it turns out he becomes an Admiral and is married to Crandall who gave him 4 daughters ( something she turned out to be good at), and Holden instead of a con artist became Captain of the Sea Tiger ( character growth always good in a movie), and is married to Duran who gave him two sons. It is interesting that Curtis could con everyone except Duran. She was one step ahead of him, and earlier in the movie, she said she was going to marry him ( even though he was engaged to a woman on a higher social class). Anyway a Classic Service Comedy and a must for fans of Curtis and ( especially) Grant. Easy 10/10 stars.

I disagreed with most of the postersjere and like Today We Live. In fact I think it was the best film Gary Cooper made in 1933. The others Design For Living ( his worst ever), One Sunday Afternoon ( number three from the bottom) and Alice In Wonderland ( only he was any good). The best part of the film was the aviation sequences and the end of the film ( spoilers ahead), with Franchet Tone and Robert Young sacrificing themselves for the good of Britain: The weakest of the four stars was Joan Crawford ( Diana), although this is a movie I liked her in. The biggest problem was her pretending to be British, no one is going to buy her as British. The Director is one of the best: Howard Hawks ( who also directed Cooper in Sgt. York and Ball of Fire ( maybe Cooper's two best non westerns)). If you like any of the stars ( especially Cooper and Young) or Hawks, don't miss Today We Live. 9/10 stars.

I know how good Die Hard and Lucky Number Sleven were, but in my humble opinion this is the best film of Bruce Willis's career. Why? It simply has everything. For those who like buddy films, the relationship between Bruce and ex quarterback Joe Dix (Damon Wayans works very well (although they could not stand each other in real life). For those who like noir films ( like me), Bruce's Joe Hollenbeck does a great job of channeling Dick Powell and Humphrey Bogart as a put down hero detective. Then there is the puppet scene with him and daughter Chelsea Field that is a laugh out loud riot. Spoilers ahead: Then there is the scene of Bruce after stopping the hit man doing a dance and Bill Medley's rocking song "Friday Night's A Great Night For Football." Basically it has everything and is Bruce Willis's best film. Easy 10/10 stars.

First Love is a slightly above average movie. It is about Jim ( Hero Fiennes Tiffin) and Ann ( Sydney Park) who are establishing their first love together. Obviously this is a "Boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back" movie. But what makes it different is the conflict is not because he did something wrong ( which happens far too often) or his parents are bigots ( he is white and she is black), but because of bad advice given by her mother ( she wants her daughter to use her body to get ahead, and because Jim's family is not wealthy ( because his father has not worked for two years), they are not good enough). Spoilers ahead: Jim is able in the end to win Ann, and marry her ( interesting to see the difference in reaction between Jim's mom ( happy for him) and Ann's mom ( not pleased) in the wedding chapel). I would have liked it more except for the cuts which are obvious to see. Finally it is slightly above average because of the happy ending which you get too few of these days. I give it 6/10 stars.