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lizbass
Reviews
I Know Where I'm Going! (1945)
Doesn't live up to reputation
I love old movies, old British movies, movies with Wendy Hiller...but this one isn't all it's cracked up to be. The set-up is fun and the direction is good, but Wendy Hiller is charmless and shrill. She also seems about ten years too old for her role, which is a problem since other characters are supposedly looking askance at her marrying an older man. I didn't sense any chemistry between her and the leading man, who was charming, which made the whole romance rather mystifying. It seems taken for granted that he's supposed to fall in love with her, because...why? There are other more fetching female characters in the story--ones that aren't materialistic, arrogant, selfish...
Ma femme est une actrice (2001)
My Husband Is an Irritant
This movie is disappointing. The film has a great cast and starts with a good premise (and very stylish opening credits), but then fizzles. The husband's jealousy of his wife's profession and fame quickly becomes tiresome. His character doesn't develop. He even gets involved in an acting group, but seems to learn nothing about what is make-believe and what is real. By the end of the story I was hoping that Charlotte would realize what a close-minded schmuck she had married. There's a patched-together ending that doesn't solve the basic problem between these two. Also, a circumcision subplot seems to belong in another movie. The best feature of this movie is Terence Stamp, who is terrific as a slightly windy yet seductive old English actor.
Texas, Brooklyn & Heaven (1948)
Preston Sturges zaniness executed with an Ed Wood flair
Awards should be handed out for sitting through this film. The movie attempts to be, and has the look of, a zany romantic comedy, but everything in the production is just a little off. The cast is loaded with incredible actors--with the exception of Guy Madison, the rather wooden leading man--which just goes to show that even the best actors can't save a really lame script. Or maybe a little Guy Madison wore off on them all. You do get the sense that everyone is trying his best, but the directing by William Castle is stagnant and uninspired, the editing (at least on the print I saw) is choppy to the point of being incoherent at times, and the script...well, enough can't be said about that script. The dialogue, supposedly full of witty repartee, thuds. Entire scenes and plot twists seem pointless. At time it feels like something a fifth grade drama class might dream up. Cross Preston Sturges with Ed Wood, and I imagine the result would be something like Texas, Brooklyn and Heaven.