howardeismanart Reviews

Salome, Where She Danced (1945)

Camp movies are also art

[6/10 · 6 February 2017]

Okay, so this is a movie with a throw-away script, characters and situations profoundly unlikely, some very inept acting, and even a title which doesn't make sense. So what?

DeCarlo was gorgeous, Albert Dekker was the heavy. They, and everyone else in this movie who should have had an accent, made a valiant -and occasionally effective- attempt to sound foreign.

This is popcorn Saturday afternoon matinée art. It is meant to be a joyride on a merry-go- round. Don't criticize the painted horses because they don't look real. Okay, Yvonne wasn't much of a dancer, but she could dance well enough for grade school kids. The color was pretty good. There were impressive sets, a bit of outdoor action, plenty of extras, and even some how-to-live-life-right by that venerable Asian philosopher, Abner Biberman.

Du Barry Was a Lady (1943)

The Color!

[6/10 · 9 January 2017]

On reviewer said that only a 5th grade child could appreciate this movie. Well, when I first saw it-the year of it's release-I was a 2nd grade child. Red Skelton's prat falls and his mugging seemed hilarious to me-then! Otherwise, I was clueless as to what was going on.

What stayed in my memory for decades after was the dazzling color, This was probably the first technicolor movie I had even seen. Technicolor movies were still scarce and a great novelty. Thus, the color itself was enough to etch this film in my memory. Also, all the color was amped up beyond any connection to real life, and the sets, the clothing and even Lucy's hair were bright and saturated color. Wow!

Now, unfortunately, the movie lacks wit and it drags a bit. I now worry that Skelton might injure himself in one of his multitudinous falls. Lucy is not at all funny, and, despite her showy looks, not a whit sexy. Virginia O'Brien is very good. Too bad she didn't have more songs. No one in the movie seemed to have any more of an idea of who Dubarry was and what her relationship to Louis X IV was than I did at the age of seven. The music was good and Ziggy Elman and Buddy Rich were happily prominent..

When a bunch of young women parade in front of the camera, you can expect that one or two go on to some movie fame. I spotted Marilyn Maxwell and Hillary Brooke in this movie. It had enough to keep me watching, and it brought back colorful memories of a distant world to me.

Dr. Christian Meets the Women (1940)

A warm, nice little comedy

[7/10 · 5 January 2017]

This is a mild, pleasant comedy made with a low budget. The Dr, Christian character, played by former bad guy, Jean Hersholt, was an American icon. There was also a Dr, Christian popular radio program with Jean Hersholt. The Dr. Christian character was a kindhearted, wise, even tempered, chubby, soft spoken man trying to spread as much good as he possibly could in his small community while tolerating fools and villains. Not the type likely to become a popular hero today.

This is a warm comedy performed by professionals. Hersholt personifies the Dr. Christian character.

Edgar Kennedy does his great slow burn, Rod La Roque is perfect as a smooth talking, glib, self centered salesman for a health racket. Indeed, some of the stuff he is peddling is still a problem today. Veda Ann Borg plays it straight as an exercise instructor Too bad she wasn't allowed to do the brassy, poorly educated, dyed blond character which has made her famous to this day.

When this was released, people could get snug in a neighborhood theater and smile through a movie like this, absorb the serious message it contained, and then watch the main feature. All of it adding up to a good nights entertainment. For those raised on contemporary movies, It has to be hard for them to understand the popularity of movies like this one. Movies today sell spectacle, dazzle, glitter, comic book action, wild fantasy, and deafening sound. Thus, I suspect that young people will find this movie too slow.

Too bad