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Houdini (1953)
Charming classic with a theatrical flair
A romantic film in colour-popping technicolour about the magic of storytelling and illusionism. Tony Curtis as Houdini... wasn't sure at first but it works with Janet Leigh as his wife - so for star power alone it sells its message.
I chose this film on Netflix having heard of Houdini through a Kate Bush song of the same name. Because I know the song quite well, I was kind of comparing the narrative of this film to the narrative of the song as I was watching, and I felt that the two do compliment each other well. So I would definitely recommend listening to Kate's less glossy spin on it after watching this (any excuse, though I'm pretty sure she was watching this when she chose to write the song from the perspective of Houdini's wife, Bess).
The real star, in my opinion, was the set design. It does well to keep us under spell of theatricality, and while it's never going to be Moulin Rouge it does hold up well in this department. Janet Leigh wears some wonderful period/showgirl costumes, and Tony Curtis gets ample an oppurtunity show off the fact that he's been working out, so there is eye candy galore.
Plot-wise, it's consistent - each scene has a narrative purpose and the screenwriter balances the plight of a showman versus the relationship with his wife well. Some excellent examples of coded suggestivity throughout the first half. The stage tricks are authentic and build suspense well.
Overall, a great pick for a Sunday afternoon classic. While this film won't change your life (like Moulin Rouge did for me), it's well made, well produced, interesting enough and you might learn something about the craft of stage-magic.
Tales of the Unexpected: The Eavesdropper (1982)
Great premise, laggy storytelling
Scene one could have gotten off to a better start but when it gets going has a good use of the inner voice in Moira, the lead.
Premise is a woman overhears two women gossiping about an affair with a married man and begins to suspects it may be her husband when he loses a valuable present she gave him.
It really gets going midway through when she suspects that the two women are plotting to kill her, with no proof but her quiet observations of their conversations and inner voice. It's easy to understand where she goes with it.
She has these conversations with herself that really do well to carry the plot forward but they are thinly dispersed between bits of woolly screenplay. The structure of the story is rather slow and lacks punch, but it does heighten well in intensity.
(Spoiler alert - I think this episode is really all about whether a woman can to trust her intuition in affairs of the heart or not. In this respect, the ending delivers well, in spite of the laggy storytelling).
Give it a go. The ending's worth it.