Change Your Image
lehartter
Reviews
The New Original Wonder Woman (1975)
Faithful to the early Comics--Complete Camp
This version of the character was to eliminate the images of Cathy Lee Crosby as superspy Wonder Woman (which, ironically, is what this program evolved into--spy Diana Prince couldn't do her job unless she was Wonder Woman).
The storyline faithfully adapts the "origin" and early career of Wonder Woman from Wonder Woman No. 1 and All-Star Comics no. 8. The only thing not adapted is a story line of how Wonder Woman meets an Army nurse named Diana Prince, who is a virtual twin, and swaps identities--paying Diana to join her fiancé in South America. Instead, while Steve recovers in the hospital, she poses as a nurse.
The special effects get more expensive treatment than later, regular episodes, while Stella Stevens steals the show as the evil villianess spy, in vintage Joan Crawford and Bette Davis costumes. Wonder Woman's amazing transformation is adapted from the original comics; in the stories, Diana wore her costume under her clothes, and at a high speed, or running, pulled them off as she added her boots and tiara either from her purse, satchel, or a hidden compartment in her office desk. Lynda ad-libbed the spin in rehearsals, pulling at her dress and nurse hat, and fading out as Wondie fades in, pulling away the dress and folding it. This elaborate, layered shot cost a great deal of money in the early 70's studios, and didn't allow for a fast-action emergency change, meaning that after two more specials, it was scrapped for the thunderclap and explosive light sequence.
By the way, interestingly, her branch of service is changed to Navy, where she is a Yeoman. In the comics, Diana is an Army nurse (and therefore an officer--Lt.) who was skilled enough in office work to be hired by Steve after his recovery. The change to Navy is more reflective of the women actually serving in the War Department in the era--the Navy was the first branch to approve use of women in non-nursing roles.
Lastly, the classic cat fight sets the stage for later specials (Fausta, and Baronness Von Gunther) but make Wonder Woman look weaker. IN the comics, there were usually scantily clad amazons, villianesses who somehow ended up partially disrobed, and other undressed cartoons, in addition to the title character's outrageous costume. Odd that the comic version was high in demand by GI's!
Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase (1939)
In name only. . . .
In the last of the Nancy Drew film series, another volume is adapted for the big screen, but mostly in title and character only. Again depicted as giddy, the film takes plot elements from the book of the same title, and adds much comic relief, and much nonsense, plus darkens the entire plot with murder. In the novel, Nancy helps the acquaintances of a person involved in her first case in investigating their "haunted" mansion. Her father turns up missing, and Nancy must investigate thoroughly before she discovers the two cases are connected, by illegally entering another home and discovering a secret passageway, connected to the haunted house by several flights of a "Hidden Staircase." In the 1930 novel, Nancy carries a revolver in addition to her trusty electric torch.
The film keeps a passageway between two homes, under a city street, no less, and involves much mayhem as Nancy tries to find out who killed a servant in the home of the Turnball sisters. Nancy is involved as she arranged for the ladies to donate the house to River Heights following completion of the terms of a will, requiring one of the sisters to occupy the home daily for twenty years. Ted is there for comic relief, now as an iceman. The series stoops to ridiculous comic levels, with Ted losing his pants once in public and then having his clothes stolen while he sleeps, leaving him with the choice of another public underwear appearance, or wearing "drag," turn of the century gowns, complete with a bonnet.
The story resolves with silly conclusions, and not much of a staircase, and, despite drawing on the novel, is far worse than the two films not drawing on texts. Entertaining for the very young (although the appropriateness of murder is questionable) but not much fun and too much Three-Stooges humor.
Cinderella (1950)
Appropriate rendering Disney-style
This is one of Disney's top five animated features, in my opinion. Cinderella was a perfect return to the full-length feature animation film (as opposed to the compilation films of the 40's), and expensive depth via the multi-plane camera returns to the film in no other way. Although Disney adapts the story somewhat liberally, you gather the idea of the era via the dress and set stylizations---a clear time period the story takes place.
Cinderella is more mature than Snow White, and a multi-dimensional character. Actually, all of the characters are somewhat well-developed, except for the Prince--left the most flat--we know he has a sense of humor, and a great smile, but that's about all. Like Snow White, Disney has some permanent impact on the story in popular culture---in most versions of Cinderella, the stepsisters are attractive, just not as pretty as Cinderella, and their character takes away from their otherwise nice appearance.
Favorite Disney additions: the mice! Also, appreciated the continuity--Cinderella always loses her shoe throughout the film. The addition of the homemade gown as well as the following assault from the stepsisters was always horrific as a child--I remember View Master showing this with a black background and a large red light on it! The broken slipper shows the unwillingness of evil Lady Tremaine to give up her hold over Cinderella and admit defeat---Audley would go on to characterize the most wicked of all Disney villains, satanic witch Maleficent, in Sleeping Beauty.
Anne of the Thousand Days (1969)
Good Interpretation for its time
As historical fiction, Anne of the Thousand Days is outstanding, and one of my favorite films. Although more recent research since the original 1940's play has shown that Anne's character was most likely a little less self-satisfying as that depicted in this interpretation, it is, nevertheless, a compelling account of a love affair, that like the fictional Rhett and Scarlett, turns down for the heroine once she realizes her love for her husband, and unfortunately for Anne, leads to her demise entirely.
From research that I have done, and reading more recent biographical sketches by Tudor historians, Anne is depicted as a coquette, but very chaste despite her exposure to French life. It appears she became educated on the Protestant movement while in France, and well-educated in affairs of state. Much of information in "Anne of the Thousand Days," is speculative at best, but much is historically based. Supposedly historical data errors caused many to speculate that Anne became pregnant before a first, secret ceremony to Henry, but current theory is the two were married in a ceremony prior to Anne's pregnancy. Historians believe Anne had two miscarriages after Elizabeth, the latter being brought on by her distress at hearing Henry had been wounded jousting, and that the premature fetus had deformities, which at that time would have been blamed on the woman or evil influences.
Despite any anachronisms or inaccuracies Anne is a wonderful movie, and deserves the DVD restoration so discussed by many fans of the movie.
Nancy Drew... Detective (1938)
Adaptation of "Larkspur Lane"
Nancy Drew, Detective, turns very serious drama campy, which is actually one of the best ways to handle serious drama. The real novels in the series depict Nancy as sophisticated, intelligent, multi-talented, (read: Mary Richards of MTM) and, up until about 1965, dressed like a model in heels, suits, tailored dresses and hats while she completes the majority of the legwork for her sleuthing.
The film depicts a less-than-perfect, giddy, and at times, juvenile Nancy. Based on "The Password to Larkspur Lane," Nancy's sidekicks Bess, George (a girl), and Helen, are written out of the movies, in favor of boyfriend Ned (re-named Ted in the films). This obviously promotes a Garland/Rooney type relationship.
The plot unevenly blends in comic relief from the original story, now at an outlandish angle, and makes intelligent sophisticate Nancy into a typical teen. The change in characterization killed all hopes for this series to run for more than the brief four films involved. Fans of Nancy, and, the publishing icon Harriet S. Adams, were both disappointed with Warner Brothers' treatment of the famous teen. So much so, that when Harriet regained the film rights, the famous sleuth wasn't filmed again until 1977.