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What Was The Last Movie You Watched?

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Catherine Deneuve is Eliane in Indochine (1992)_thumb.jpg

Indochine from 1992 with Catherine Deneuve, Linh-Dan Pham, Vincent Perez and Jean Yanne


Indochine is a beautifully filmed epic that observes more than it comments on the final decades of French colonial rule in Indochina, a part of which became Vietnam. But it is observation with an opinion.

Catherine Deneuve plays the French owner of a large rubber plantation she inherited from her now widowed father. Unmarried, Deneuve adopts an orphaned girl, played by Linh-Dan Pham, who was born into a dynastic Vietnamese family.

Opening in the 1930s, Deneuve is confidently in charge of her rubber plantation as she firmly commands her native "coolie" labourers. She loves the plantation and the country, but of course, in the construct that has her as part of the ruling class.

Outwardly, Deneuve is aristocratically reserved, but we see she has clandestine sexual affairs and secretly visits opium dens. Libidinous passions and psychotropic desires course through her blood, no matter how haughty she may appear.

Deneuve deeply loves her adopted daughter, openly stating her life's passion and goal is to pass her large plantation on to her. Quite likely, Phan would have accepted the plantation and lived a life of wealth and privilege but for the brewing revolution.

The catalyst that breaks Deneuve's plan is a young, handsome French naval officer, played by Vincent Perez with whom Deneuve has a brief, but passionate love affair. Fast-forward and Perez, innocently at first, becomes entangled with Deneuve's daughter, Pham.

His entanglement is sparked by the sweeping societal changes that will see Pham transform from a daughter of privilege into a catalyst and hero of the revolution almost by happenstance. She and Perez become part of a story that is much larger than either of them.

Indochine tells that story, the story of Vietnam's fight for independence, through the lives of Deneuve, Pham and Perez. The movie, which begins in the 1930s, closes with the defeated French leaving Vietnam in 1954 as the country splits politically into the North and South.

If it is a detailed history one is after, this is not the movie. Indochine does, though, provide a passionate feel for the beauty and tragedy of the country's final colonial days. The movie is also visually stunning.

Filmed mainly in Vietnam, with the plantation scenes shot in Malaysia, the country becomes a character itself. Director Regis Wargnier captures the beauty of Vietnam's mountains, inlets and verdant jungles with gorgeous sweeping shots.

Wargnier also pays great attention to detail by showing the beauty of the French colonial architecture and clothing and the beauty of Vietnam's extant royals in their stunning palaces and colorful robes. But he sets all that against the poverty of the bedraggled lower classes.

Wargnier mainly observes, but by constantly juxtaposing the nearly abject poverty of the average Vietnamese worker and family against the opulence of the French colonialists and indigenous royals, he quietly connects the dots to the coming revolution.

Nearly fifty and still beautiful, Deneuve delivers an Oscar-nominated performance as a singular Frenchwoman in a unique place and time in history. Her screen presence and acting talent drives a movie with a strong cast and rich story.

Pham and Perez also deliver impressive performances as does Jean Yanne as Deveuve's friend, the modestly corrupt, but also effective and moral in his own way, French official. He sees the signs of the end of French colonial rule earlier than most.

Indochine isn't perfect - it is soapy in parts and forced in others - but those are quibbles in a movie that beautifully and powerfully captures a time, place and moment that is now part of history. It uses all the strengths of cinema to deliver a rich movie-viewing experience.

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Alice-in-Wonderland-1933-featured.jpg

Alice in Wonderland from 1933


If you enjoyed Alice in Wonderland as a fairytale when you were a kid, you might enjoy this movie version of the story; if you didn't enjoy the book version, this movie is a hard pass as it's a reasonably faithful rendition.

One take on the story is to see the fairytale as an allegory for the confusion children have when discovering the hypocrisy and nonsense of the adult world. However, the popular psychedelic-drug-trip take has a pretty strong argument for itself too.

Once you see it the drug-trip way, though, you're faced with the problem of trying to understand why someone would write a drug-trip allegory as a children's fairytale.

There's also this: maybe it is the influence of Jefferson Airplane's “White Rabbit -“ the psychedelic rock song inspired by the fairytale - but song or no song, without a drug explanation, the story searches for an logical interpretation.

If you can somehow unpack all that, or pack it up and forget about it, the movie can still be tough sledding for an adult, even one who enjoyed the story as a kid. Part of the issue today is the magic the movie had in 1933 isn't there for a modern audience

A large element of the fun of 1933's Alice in Wonderland is being wowed with the set and trick photography that, of course, has been long-since bettered by improved analog technology and, now, the meta-game-killing CGI.

CGI, unfortunately, took away a big part of modern movies' wow factor. Before CGI, a rocket ship flying through space or a fantasyland like Oz, had audiences thinking, "how'd they do that" or "that's really creative," but that's over now as today it's all just zeroes and ones.

This leaves you needing to put yourself into a different mindset to enjoy the movie. You have to try to appreciate the creativity of a pre-CGI 1933 world required to make all the neat tricks of the "looking glass" world. It's a big ask of present-day viewers

There are also some interspersed animation sequences, which maybe felt fresh then, but feel hokey today. Then and now, the transition to animation undermines the illusion of the "looking glass" world being a real parallel universe.

The cast too is a challenge. Yes it's impressive with Gary Cooper, W.C. Fields, Edna May Oliver, Cary Grant, May Robson and other notables, but most are so buried in costume, makeup, silly voices and sillier dialogue that they often feel wasted in this movie.

The actress playing Alice, Charlotte Henry, is very good at conveying childhood wonder with a bit of an "adult in the room" vibe mixed in, but it is a one-note performance. Perhaps not her fault, as the character was written that way, but still, it becomes wearisome.

Fan's of Alice in Wonderland can watch and decide if this early attempt captured the magic they see in the fairytale. For everyone else, it's pretty hard to sit through, what amounts to, an awful lot of babble.
 
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Thank you. I just write these reviews for fun and to share here and on a classic movie forum. I hope, as you note, some people are encourage to watch some of the movies I comment on. I do write professionally, but in my field, which is finance.

As to the mushy stuff, my favorite genre of movie is the romcom. I'm a proud fan of the mushy stuff.

The love triangle - the mushy stuff - did, though, in "The Charge of the Light Brigade" feel forced, but I think they wanted a female lead, so they built in the love triangle for that reason.
I too enjoy and look forward to your reviews of movies and books and not just for their content but for the way in which they are constructed. Very entertaining and informative. Thank you for your contributions to the FL, FF!
:D
 
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Finally saw all of Where Danger Lives earlier this morning on TCM’s Noir Alley. As per usual, I enjoyed Robert Mitchum’s work but it was the performance of Claude Rains which stole the show for me. An entertaining story and some nice cinematography made it a nice way to start the day.
:D
 
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The Two Mrs. Carrolls from 1947 with Barbara Stanwyck, Humphrey Bogart, Alexis Smith and Ann Carter


The Two Mrs. Carrolls is a good movie whose whole is worth less than the sum of its parts. With Barbara Stanwyck, Humphrey Bogart and Alexis Smith starring and a script from a hit Broadway play, this should be a better move than it is.

Part of the problem is that most of the surprise in this murder mystery story is drained right out of it as we learn early on that an artist, played by Bogart, is a killer. We see him poison his first wife to marry a wealthy woman, played by Stanwyck, whom he just met.

Along for the wife-swap ride is Ann Carter playing Bogart's preternaturally mature pre-teen daughter. She's not the most-realistic character, few adults are as poised as she is, but movies have a certain latitude and, here, The Two Mrs. Carrolls uses its latitude well.

Probably to protect her own sanity, this highly intelligent and thoughtful child doesn't see that her father is a murderer. She, instead, indulges her father. It's an engaging performance from a child performer.

For a time, Bogart and Stanwyck's marriage seems to be going well, still, there are signs of Bogart's insanity that kind wife Stanwyck passes off as a temperamental-artist thing. But when a pretty neighbor woman starts scratching at the back door, things heat up.

Alexis Smith, the pretty, tall and door-scratching neighbor who looks like she could eat peanuts off the top of Bogart's head, makes a hard run at Bogart seemingly because she likes stealing other women's husbands.

Bogart, not for the reason you think - the real reason is the "surprise reveal" in the mystery - likes to be stolen away. So once again, out comes the poison. But there are a couple of problems.

The British government isn't stupid and requires a signature to be obtained whenever poison is sold. This gives scheming, immoral "chemists," pharmacists to us today, like the one played here by Barry Bernard, an opportunity to commit blackmail.

Bernard is outstanding as the blackmailer you love to hate. Even though Bogart is a murderer, Bernard is such a greedy low life - he's willing to let Bogart go on killing as long as Bogart pays him off - you hate him more than Bogie. Bogie, afterall, is insane.

Bogart's other problem is that Stanwyck and Stanwyck's friend, played by Patrick O'Moore - it's good to have an ex-lover still pining for you when your husband is a psychotic killer - aren't going to let her go gently into that good night.

The climatic scene, no spoilers coming, is dragged out and exaggerated a bit to create drama. Still, it's pretty well done by director Peter Godfrey as rain and crashing thunder outside set a Gothic-like atmosphere for a struggle to death in Stanwyck's bedroom.

Stanwyck is the standout performer in this one. The woman is so talented you forget she is acting as she just becomes her character. While the script drifts now and then into implausibility, Stanwyck's realistic portrayal is always there to give it credibility.

Bogart is a professional who doesn't give a poor performance. Still, his ideal role is playing the antihero, not the psychotic killer. Here he is natural when playing the kind husband and father, but you feel him "acting" when his insanity shows through.

Smith's character is written as two dimensional, so she can only do so much. You don't like her, which is what the script called for, so mission accomplished. Had she had a bit more Hollywood luck, the tall and talented Ms. Smith could have had a bigger career.

Nigel Bruce turns the ham factor up just a bit too high on his country doctor schtick in this one. Conversely, Anita Sharp-Bolster is spot on in her spirited portrayal of Stanwyck's sarcastic housekeeper who doesn't take BS from anyone.

Many pieces of this movie are good, some are even very good, but the story lacks the full punch it needed, in part, because too much is revealed early on putting too much pressure on the disappointing "big reveal" later.

The Two Mrs. Carrolls has enough talent and pedigree to have been a great movie. Yet In the busy Hollywood subgenre of psychotic-murderous-spouse movies, it's just a good one. Maybe the twist that spurs Bogie to murder will make it a great one for you.
 

FOXTROT LAMONT

One Too Many
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I watched Big Valley over here and Barbara Stanwyck I thought far and away much more alluring than
her daughter the lovely Linda Evans. And her later appearance in The Thorn Birds aced it completely.
As with Myrna Loy, Barbara Stanwyck had an indescribable quality beyond mere physical beauty.
 
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I watched Big Valley over here and Barbara Stanwyck I thought far and away much more alluring than
her daughter the lovely Linda Evans. And her later appearance in The Thorn Birds aced it completely.
As with Myrna Loy, Barbara Stanwyck had an indescribable quality beyond mere physical beauty.

I know I've posted about this before, but as a young kid in the 1970s, my introduction to Barbara Stanwyck was watching "The Big Valley" on reruns. It took a bit for me to connect her to her younger self in the old movies I'd see on late night or Sat/Sunday afternoon TV.

On "The Big Valley," she stood out as she was no "matriarchal" gray-haired lady who ran the ranch from behind a desk. She was a crack shot, an experienced rider and had no fear - she was cool.
 

FOXTROT LAMONT

One Too Many
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^ Fast, matriarchial wasn't exactly my perception either. ;)
There are scenes in The Thorn Birds where Miss Stanwyck throws all the darts at once; chastity upended with immediate and entirely provocative effect. Far and away beyond all the silly noblesse oblige idiotic nudity to show absolute raw emotion dredged heart and mind.
 
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The Black Hand from 1950 with Gene Kelly and J. Carrol Naish


The Black Hand, while a bit obvious in its storytelling and plotting, is still an engaging 1950 period movie set in the early 1900s in Manhattan's lower east side Italian immigrant community.

Of interest to students of film will be some of the movie's scenes that so foreshadow scenes in The Godfather Part II, one is forced to believe director Francis Ford Coppula saw this movie before making his famous Mafia sequel.

Gene Kelly, in The Black Hand, in a non-dancing dramatic role, plays a young man whose father, when Kelly was a boy, was killed by The Black Hand (think the Mafia) when his father went to the police to report on The Black Hand's extortion of the Italian community.

Kelly, who after his father's death was sent back to Italy, has now returned to the US and wants to find and kill his father's murderer and destroy The Black Hand.

After reuniting and beginning a romance with a childhood friend, a now young widowed single mother, Kelly is encouraged by her and an honest police detective, played by J. Carrol Naish, to forgo the vendetta justice he had planned to, instead, focus on becoming a lawyer.

The long-term strategy is for him to study, pass the bar and, then, work with the police and prosecutors to legally expose and bring down The Black Hand.

Most of the movie is Kelly pinging back and forth between passionately trying to avenge his father's death vigilante style now and doing the long, hard work of becoming a lawyer to fight The Black Hand legally in the future.

Along the way, as noted and a part of the movie that will be incredibly enjoyable for film historians, there are several scenes that foreshadow The Godfather Part II.

When Kelly moves through the street hussle and bussle of the Italian immigrant community, stalks his prey in the dark and narrow hallways of the tenement buildings or escapes across their ramshackled rooftops, it's as if you're seeing the black-and-white screen test of a young Robert De Niro for The Godfather Part II.

The Black Hand does a good job showing how the Mafia used pressure, fear and murder to extort money from the Italian immigrants, while the police, often already corrupted, looked the other way. It's a simplistic, but not inaccurate portrayal of the period.

The plot, also, can feel a bit too simplistic as we see a few good cops, detectives and immigrants who are selflessly willing to risk their lives ban together to fight for justice.

There is, though, a good twist about a detective, the J. Carrol Naish character, going over to Italy to gather evidence on the Black Hand that, literally, takes the fight back to "The Old Country."

Kelly is excellent as the young man torn between the instant gratification of taking justice into his own hands and doing the hard work of fighting The Black Hand from within the slower moving justice system.

Many of the characters we'd come to know in mob movies, including the smooth and likable mob boss who only uses violence as a last resort because it's bad for business and the psychotic thugs who work for him, are represented.

The scared honest citizens who "pay up" because they "don't want trouble," the cops on the take and the few honest cops and forthright citizens willing to risk their lives to change things are also here in early versions of what would become stock characters of the mobster-movie genre.

The Black Hand is a bit too studio-system formulaic to be a great movie, but it is interesting to see a version of the Mafia-comes-to-America story in an early incarnation.

You'll also want to see it for Kelly and Naish's engaging performances and the, as noted, foreshadowing scenes of the The Godfather Part II, which feels like cinematic archaeology.
 

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