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Reviews
Curse of the Fly (1965)
Gothic horror with subtle humor
Curse of the Fly may well be a surprise to you, as it was to me. Expecting some typically cheap, cheesy '60s B Horror film, I instead found a film that captured my attention with a better than average storyline, good acting, interesting, if dated, theories on teleportation, and some rather subtle humor. Burt Kwouk, who played the Chinese houseboy "Kato" in the Pink Panther films to Peter Sellers' Inspector Clouseau, and who seemed to be forever perpetrating sneak attacks on Clouseau, likewise turns up in this film as a Chinese houseboy, sans the martial arts bits. This time however, Kwouk is named "Tai". Yvette Rees, who plays the Chinese house'girl', as it were, is named "Wan". Tai and Wan? Taiwan?
Somebody obviously had a lot of fun writing the screenplay.
The opening scene, featuring the beautiful Carole Gray as Patricia Stanley escaping from a mental institution in her underwear as the opening credits roll, is one of the oddest introductory scenes to be seen in a film of this genre. Absolutely recommended for all fans of horror, suspense, '60s b&w's, camp, and films featuring unintentional humor
Gentleman's Agreement (1947)
Excellent and underappreciated
In 1947, Gentlemen's Agreement was an overdue and "needed" commentary. While all too many today believe they've "been there, done that", the film remains an interesting comment on society in general. Replace "anti-semitism" with "political correctness" and the film could be rewritten and restaged to form a brilliant statement that is as needed today as GA was in 1947. Despite the many inroads into prejudice of all forms, businesses, churches, political affiliations, and organizations of every class, color and "preference" practice exclusionary methods of P.C. that say you must think like they do, act like they do, dress like they do, talk like they do, and never question the leader(s) when you see these prejudices conflicting with common sense and common truth. Gentlemen's Agreement is a far more thoughtful work, despite its shortcomings, than most care to see. Additionally, a question: "Does anyone out there know what the title theme of this film is?" I think it was rather popular in the late '40s/early '50s. I don't believe it's indicated in the credits.