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Reviews
Scarlet Street (1945)
Very Good Movie With A Cast Of Morally Bankrupt Characters
The first thing I thought, after meeting every character in this movie, was that EVERY character was a JERK! Not since "For Love Of The Game" have I seen a movie where I couldn't stand ANYONE in the film! Now this is not to say that this isn't a very good movie...it is. What it is though is a cast of losers...from Cross to his wife to Kitty to Johnny to the re-appearing dead husband. Everyone character has no moral value whatsoever and the only redeeming characters are the store owner, Cross' boss and the non-card playing newspaperman on the train.
It is this newspaperman that is the highlight of the movie. HE is the one that correctly reasons that NO MURDER GOES UNPUNISHED. He figures he would rather have a judge send him to the chair rather to live with himself. And Cross finds that out...the hard way: unable to kill himself and unable to live with himself.
From personal experience I can tell you one thing: what Cross experiences in his rundown motel room after Johnny's trial IS THE ABSOLUTE BEST DEPICTION ON FILM OF WHAT LIVING WITH A MAJOR SIN IN ONE'S LIFE WITHOUT REPENTANCE IS LIKE. It should be mandatory viewing for every Bible student to grasp that invaluable painting of nights with unforgiveness in your life.
La vita è bella (1997)
I Forgot Just How Great This Movie Was!
Okay, so I do not do subtitles well. That is why I held on to my English-dubbed VHS copy of "Life Is Beautiful" for so long...from initial release until last Friday. That is when I saw, for the first time, a DVD of the English-dubbed version. I immediately watched it that night and remembered all that was so great about this movie. The "radio room" sequence in the concentration camp and the cry of "IT'S TRUE!" were almost too much for me to handle. I hate to use tired clichés but "It made me laugh. It made me cry". See the movie despite what anyone else says about it. In other words, forgive and forget the haters because they have not forgiven and forgotten the haters...
The Strange Case of Doctor Rx (1942)
A Shemp Howard Masterpiece
If you consider yourself a fan of Shemp Howard (of The Three Stooges) and have never seen this picture, DO SO IMMEDIATELY! Even though screen time for Shemp is relatively small, he and Mr. Church's "man" steal the show!!! The movie, overall, is your standard 1940's-1950's whodunit with a bit of a "weird" plot twist to throw you off course. It certainly does that, but it could have been done in a more "meaningful" manner. Aside from all that, SHEMP IS LAUGH OUT LOUD FUNNY! I picked my copy up off of eBay for around ten bucks and even though there are a couple of video glitches in it, I still consider it worth the price to catch this classic. SHEMP RULES!!!