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Reviews
Holiday for Lovers (1959)
Remake of "Take Her, She's Mine"?
Just to correct a previous comment, "Holiday for Lovers" was not remade as "Take Her, She's Mine." Although thematically similar, these two stories come from different source material, although both started out as Broadway plays.
The play "Holiday for Lovers" was written by Ronald Alexander, who also wrote "Time Out for Ginger", which was made into a Patty Duke movie, "Billie." "Holiday for Lovers" ran for 100 performances at the Longacre Theater from Feb. 14, 1957 to May 11, 1957. The biggest name star in the cast was Don Ameche playing the father. The setting of the play was hotels in New York, Paris, Seville, and Rome. One can only speculate why the film version re-set the story in South America. Given the year, 1959, it might have been at the urging of some agency of the U.S. Governent to support the "Good Neighbor Policy," which was meant to keep Communism out of Latin America.
The play "Take Her, She's Mine" was written by Phoebe and Henry Ephron, inspired by the adventures of their then-22 year old daughter, Nora Ephron. The play ran for 404 performances at the Biltmore Theater from Dec. 21, 1961 to Dec. 8, 1962. The play was set in Southern California and New England. Among the luminaries in the cast were Art Carney and Phyllis Thaxter, playing the parents; Elizabeth Ashley, playing the older daughter (for which role she won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play); and Richard Jordan. Karen Black was an understudy in this production!
Hakuôki (1959)
A Good Example of a Chambara ("sword fighting") Film
The main story of the film is told in flashback by Horibe Yasubei, one of the real-life 47 Ronin, who took part in a famous true story of revenge for the sake of honor that took place in 1701. He recounts the events in his life that led up to him and the others of the 47 Ronin marching through a snowstorm on their way to attack Lord Kira, whose behavior brought about the death of their Lord.
The popularity of the 47 Ronin story in Japanese culture is comparable to the popularity of the Gunfight at the OK Corral in American culture.
The two heroes of Samurai Vendetta (Hakuo-ki) are the aforementioned Yasubei and Tange Tenzen, a fictional character. The film begins with a real event (a duel against several opponents) from Yasubei's life, in which he first comes to the notice of the fictional Tenzen. Their paths subsequently cross several times, leading to incidents in which they each become indebted to the other for saving each other's lives.
Although the story is overly melodramatic in places, leading to a couple of bouts of unintended laughter from the audience I saw it with, it is very moving overall.
One scene especially deserves some explanation. The Shogun at the time, Tsunayoshi, was known as the "Dog Shogun" because of edicts by him that dogs were not to be harmed in any way; someone who harmed a dog would be punished by being beaten, or killed if that person killed a dog. In one scene, a pack of feral dogs attacks a woman, and is saved by one of the heroes, who kills one of the dogs. The other hero helps the dog-killer escape. Although the dog attack is not staged very well, the scene is inter-cut with brief scenes showing people who have harmed dogs being beaten, and people who have killed dogs being beheaded, to illustrate the reason killing a dog is so significant.
Adding to the visual pleasure of the film is the expressive use of color, such as a vivid sunset, reminiscent of the sunset in Gone With the Wind, when Scarlett makes her "I won't go hungry again" speech.
I saw this movie at the Japan Society in New York City, Dec. 11, 2009.