365+ movies in 365 Days: Day 116 - Summer's End Film Festival: State Fair

Nothing says summer like a big State Fair.

In 1944 Rogers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma was a big hit on Broadway. It was so popular that 20th Century Fox couldn't buy the rights to make a movie of it. So they did the next best thing. they hired Rogers and Hammerstein to write a new musical.

Fox dusted off the 1933 film State Fair and Rogers and Hammerstein created their only musical written directly for the movies. In 1945 the musical remake of State Fair was released to great acclaim. The film was notable for some excellent songs including the Academy Award winning "It Might As Well Be Spring". This is the only Oscar the song writing team ever won.

The film tells the story of the Frake family as they prepare to visit the State Fair. Mom hopes to beat out her snooty rival for best minced meat and dad hopes to have his hog win best in class. Daughter Margie (Jeanne Craine) hopes the fair will pull her out of her funk and her brother Wayne (Dick Haymes) is disappointed his girl can't go.

Once at the fair each of the family members embark on some adventures. Margie unexpectedly meets a newspaper man (Dana Andrews) on a roller coaster and is soon falling in love. And Wayne meets a big band singer and develops his own romance. These romantic entanglements will cause complications for the family as they spend their vacation at the fair.

All the performances are fine and there are a couple of chuckles, but the main reason for seeing this movie is to hear the wonderful Rodgers and Hammerstein music. Along with "It Might As Well Be Spring" the movie also features "It's A Grand Night For Singing" and "Our State Fair". The songs are instantly recognizable and don't be surprised if you find yourself humming along.

The film is an old-fashioned piece of nostalgia for a time in America that never really was. Nowadays so many people are full of longing for these innocent days, when they never really existed to begin with. Just one example is the fact that the fair takes place in 1945, but there his no mention of the war that just ended, almost as if it never happened.

20th Century Fox remade the film a third time in 1962. This time as a musical starring Pat Boone and Ann Margaret. To avoid confusion the 1945 version was retitled It Happened One Summer when it aired on television

At the time of this film Dana Andrews was one of the biggest names in Hollywood. He had starred in Laura and the following year he would be starring in The Best Years Of Our Lives. But by the 1950's he would be washed up, his career ravaged by alcoholism, he would be starring in "B" pictures like Zero Hour. he was able to recover from his alcoholism and finished his career in movies, daytime soaps and television guest appearances. he was also President of the Screen Actor's Guild.

At the Movie House rating **1/2 stars

365+ movies in 365 Days: Day 115 - Summer's End Film Festival: Summertime

David Lean directed three of the movies great romance films, Brief Encounter, Doctor Zhivago and Summertime. 

Is it better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all? 

Summertime asks that question of Jane Hudson (Katherine Hepburn) an American woman on an extended summer vacation in Europe. In a series of watercolors the opening credits depict Jane traveling to London and Paris and, as the credits end, we pick her up on the Orient Express, bound for Venice. As she travels, she records everything with a home movie camera. But the camera also acts as a shield, keeping the world at a distance. In her hotel she is asked by the owner why she travels alone and she replies that she likes it that way, "she is the independent type." But soon we see she really does not wish to be alone as she presses the other guests to stay with her for a drink, but they all have engagements and soon she is left by herself. 

Every where she looks she sees couples. Venice, and Italy, are places of romance. She has already expressed a hidden desire that hopefully something magical will happen, yet when the opportunity presents itself in the Piazza San Marco,  she is to afraid to chance anything and she quickly scurries away.

That opportunity is the attention of Renato de Rossi (Rozzano Brazzi) a local merchant. Their paths cross again the next day and the next evening and soon he is making his affection for her known. She is soon swept off her feet in a whirlwind romance. But when she learns Renato is married she must choose between what she desires and what she believes to be the "correct" thing to do. During the film she buys a gardenia from a flower lady. She explains that she always wanted one, it was the flower she wanted to wear to her first dance, but her date couldn't afford it. Renato tells her that if you wait long enough eventually you can have the things you want. But later the gardenia accidentally drops into a canal and floats away, because sometimes you lose the things you want most.

The film is not just about the love affair between two people, it is also about a love affair with the city of Venice. David Lean captures the very essence of the city on film, including it's many moods and personality. He shows how easily it could be to lose yourself in this magical place.

The film has some abrupt changes in tone and most of that can be attributed to edits required to meet production codes at the time. The film was also found "morally objectionable in part" by the National Catholic Legion of Decency. By today's standards the film is old fashioned in it's depiction of romance.

The film has a poetic quality about it and Katherine Hepburn is superb as a woman "who is laughing on the outside, but crying on the inside." It made me want to go to Venice!

At the Movie House rating ***1/2 stars.

365+ movies in 365 Days: Day 114 - Summer's End Film Festival: The Blob

Labor Day and the unofficial end of summer is just two weeks away. So starting today I am beginning a Summer's End Film Festival devoted to all things summer.

First up is the 1958 sci-fi classic The Blob. The film opens on two teenagers making out under a starry sky, on a hot Friday night, in the summertime. Suddenly a meteor streaks across the sky and crashes just beyond the next hill. The pair race to see it, but before they can get there an old man arrives at the crash sight first. He pokes at the meteor with a stick and it cracks open to reveal a pulsating gelatinous mass inside. Before you know it, the mass is covering his hand and he is crying out in pain. The two teenagers find the old man and take him to the doctor's house for medical aid. Left alone at the doc's house the mass consumes the old man, then the nurse and finally the doctor. It is now up to the two teenagers to warn a disbelieving town that there is a monster on the loose killing everything it it's path.

This low budget sci-fi thriller has become a classic film for multiple reasons. It features Steve McQueen in his first starring role and he plays the part with the same integrity and charm he would give every part. Filmed on location in Pennsylvania the film has a sense of reality and authenticity a studio film wouldn't have. And finally the movie is filled with memorable, iconic images. The blob oozing through the ventilation grate, or out through the projection holes in the movie theatre, the patrons running and screaming from the movie theatre and the mechanic attacked under the car are just a few of them.

At The Movie House rating ****

365+ movies in 365 Days: Day 113 - Scott Pilgrim vs the World.

Scott Pilgrim is essentially a comic book on film. It's the first time that I ever felt a movie recreated the actual comic book experience on the big screen. The film stars Micheal Cera as Scott Pilgrim, who does what he always does, playing a shy, mousy dweeb, but nobody does it better. Scott falls for the new, cool girl in town Ramona. Unfortunately Ramona comes with baggage, seven exes that Micheal must battle in video game style smack downs.

The movie is based on a series of graphic novels I had never heard of and I could tell I was not the films target audience. But I found myself enjoying it immensely. The movie knows when to be hip and when to mock itself and the visual style is amazing. It captures the coolness factor Speed Racer failed to get two years ago. The film is a little long and becomes repetitious. It could have used two less evil ex-boyfriends.

This film is not for everyone. The generation that grew up on MTV and Nintendo will love it. Others may wonder what it's all about, but if it speaks to you, it will make you laugh.

At the Movie House rating ***stars

365+ movies in 365 Days: Day 112 - Danger In The Skies - Part V: Air Force One

It was only a matter of time before they made an "airplane in danger" film featuring one of the most famous aircraft in the world, Air Force One. The movie, directed by Wolfgang Petersen, is almost saved by the performances of the films two leads, Harrison Ford as The President Of The United States and Gary Oldman as his nemesis, a Russian terrorist.

The movie is laden with every cliche, from every airplane, terrorist, political crisis movie you can find. In addition it has multiple endings with the plane flying on from one crisis to the next. Yet because of the work of it's two stars the movie is extremely watchable. It is completely predictable, but at the same time it engages the viewer into rooting for this gun toting President and the good old red, white and blue. I think it's because we have gotten so tired of seeing our politicians refuse to take any real action on anything, that we rally around President James Marshall as he takes on a plane load of terrorists.

Glenn Close as the Vice-President and Dean Stockwell as the Secretary Of defense give strong performances on the ground, but everyone else in the white house is reduced to reading standard crisis dialogue. One character even compares flying a plane to riding a bicycle, a line we heard in Zero Hour and Airplane. In addition the movie asks the audience to suspend disbelief a few times and too overlook some obvious CGI effects.

As big budget summer entertainment the films a hit, but it lacks the suspense of a really good thriller.

At the Movie House rating ** 1/2 stars

365+ movies in 365 Days: Day 111 - Danger In The Skies - Part IV: Airplane

In 1980 Paramount Pictures released Airplane and afterwards every movie genre was open for ridicule. Mel Brooks invented the movie spoof with comedic takes on westerns, with Blazing Saddles and horror movies with Young Frankenstein, but when Jim Abrams and David and Jerry Zucker created Airplane they perfected it. This writing and directing team pulled out all the stops and threw every kind of joke they could  think of into the movie.

As I mentioned earlier this week, the film is a direct remake of the 1957 film Zero Hour. But then they added in rifts from Airport, The High And The Mighty, Airplane '75, Jaws, From Here to Eternity, Saturday Night Fever and even Knute Rokne, All American. There is no joke too stupid or sophomoric that they won't give it a try. The movie actually needs to be watched multiple times to get every visual gag and verbal pun that is thrown at the audience.

The movie also works well because of the brilliant casting. Instead of casting the movie with popular comedians, they hired well known actors famous for their dramatic roles. Robert Stack, Peter Graves, Leslie Nielsen and Lloyd Bridges were all cast against type. In addition, they played their roles with deadly earnest, delivering comedic lines in a deadpan manner, oblivious to the chaos around them and that made them even funnier. Nielsen had his career rejuvenated because of his part in Airplane and went on to play many comedic roles.

The jokes come a mile a minute and the film ended up with many signature catch phrases including the famous "Surely, you can't be serious? I am serious. And don't call me Shirley!" The films reputation has grown over the years and is on the AFI list of best American comedies.

I recommend a double feature of Zero Hour and then Airplane.

At the Movie House rating **** stars

365+ movies in 365 Days: Day 110 - Danger In The Skies - Part III: Skyjacked and Executive Decision

From 1968 to 1972 there were close to a hundred attempted or successful hijackings of aircraft in the U.S. The hijackers usually wanted hostages so they could ask for money or for some political purpose, many wanted to be taken to Cuba. Because of the frequency of hijackings the Nixon administration put in security measures that remained in effect until 9/11.

Skyjacked, based on a book by David Harper, is a fictional account of one of these events. The film stars Charlton Heston and a cast of notables including Roosevelt Grier, Yvette Mimieux, James Brolin, Walter Pigeon and Claude Akins. The film is a competent thriller that manages to maintain suspense throughout.

The film is broken into three acts. The first is a mystery. Someone has planted a bomb on a flight from Oakland to Minneapolis and left a message in lipstick on the bathroom mirror. The suspects are narrowed down to one of the first class passengers. The bomber orders the plane to be flown to Anchorage, Alaska.
Charlton Heston as the Captain has no choice but to divert the plane while they try to figure out who it might be.

In act two the bomber is revealed, but now the plane must try to land at Anchorage Airport in zero visibility. The plane must be talked down, while avoiding collisions with nearby aircraft.

And finally the third act. the bomber orders the plane flown to Moscow, where he plans to defect and turn over the plane and it's passengers, including a U.S. Senator (Walter Pigeon) and an FBI agent who was smuggled aboard at Anchorage.

The movie bogs down under a couple of unnecessary flashbacks that tell of a past romantic relationship between Heston and the head flight attendant, Mimieux. These scenes could have been left out completely and the script would be tighter and less campy. Also the script puts Heston in the role of hero at the end and it really does not work, since he has the opportunity to get off the plane and leave the madman to the Russians, but over all it is well made and holds together.

I saw this film with my mom at the North Masspaequa theatre in 1972. I enjoyed it then and it's still pretty good.

At the Movie House rating **1/2 stars

Next up was a different sort of hijacking film. This time it's Muslim terrorist who have smuggled a bomb filled with DZ-5 nerve gas on board a 747and plan to use a it as a weapon of mass destruction by crashing it into Washington. The film stars Kurt Russell as an intelligence analyst and Steven Segal as an assault team leader.

In Executive Decision an assault team is able to sneak on board the hijacked 747 in flight and it becomes a race against the clock to disarm the bomb and stop the terrorists before the President makes an "executive decision" to shoot the plane down, passengers and all. Oddly the President never appears in the movie.

A movie like this needs to have a few of things going for it, in order to work. First it must have a good bad guy. The film accomplishes that by having David Suchet as the lead terrorist. The guy is scary even when he plays a good guy. Second, it must give the audience something unexpected to keep the suspense up. The film does this by killing one of the films stars 20 minutes into the movie. If that can happen, than anything can happen. And finally, what ever goes on, no matter how preposterous, must have some level of credibility that allows the audience to suspend disbelief and go with the story. The film does this too, by using dialogue to make sure everything is explained along the way.

The films major failure is the over the top ending, with the hero in the cockpit trying to land the 747 and creating a standard Hollywood scene of explosions and fire. It was an unneeded climax to a very suspenseful film.

The film was a big budget hit back in 1996. Turning a 747 into a weapon of mass destruction was also used by Tom Clancy in his 1994 best seller, Debt Of Honor. In the aftermath of 9/11 both of these fictional stories take on a new light.

At the Movie House rating ***

365+ movies in 365 Days: Day 109 - Danger In The Skies - Part II: Airport

In 1970 Ross Hunter and Universal pictures ushered in the modern day disaster movie with the film Airport. Based on Arthur Hailey's best selling novel, this big budget film featured an all star cast and was a huge success at the box office. It is one of the few pre-1975 films to gross over $100 million at the box office. Adjusted for inflation the film would be the 42nd highest grossing film in Hollywood history. The film was a critical success and received ten Academy Award nominations including Best Picture.

The film features Burt Lancaster, Dean Martin, Jacqueline Bissette, Jean Seberg, Helen Hayes, George Kennedy, Van Heflin, Maureen Stapelton, Barry Nelson, Dana Wynter, Lloyd Nolan and Barbara Hale.
The story focuses on an airport trying to operate during a major snow storm and a flight to Rome that has a suicidal bomber on board.

By today's standards the movie is an artifact. It represents a bygone era of travel and film making. In the movie passengers and non-passengers have easy access to jet ways. So easy in fact, there is a stowaway on board. Passengers smoke in the cabin and the crew smoke in the cockpit. The food service is on real china in first class and tourist. And, as you enter the terminal, you have an opportunity to purchase instant flight insurance at a concession booth. A ticket to Rome cost $474.00 and a Boeing 707 cost eight million. The film represents the height of the Jet Age, when air travel was both glamorous and accessible and people still dressed up to travel.

The movie also represents a type of movie making that was also going out of style. The ensemble melodrama with stiff dialogue and no cursing. Everything and everyone looked crisp and clean-cut. the movie has a slick look that disappeared from Hollywood films of the 1970's. The film also makes multiple use of the split screen technique popularized in the 1960's and went out of style soon after.

Arthur Hailey's books were well researched "potboilers" that took you inside a particular industry, airlines, hotels, banking, pharmaceutical, etc. and put ordinary people into crisis situations. He created multiple story lines with large casts of characters that all inter-twined and came together in the end. This formula worked well for his best sellers, but the movies made from them come off riddled with cliches and bad dialogue and Airport is no exception. Some of the characters and situations in the book were cut out for the movie, but it still leaves too many plot entanglements.The screenplay by director George Seaton gives the cast "B" picture quality dialogue to work with. The two leads, Burt Lancaster as the airport manager and Dean Martin as the pilot of the stricken plan come off the worse for it.

The film drags a bit in the center, but when the action heats up on the plane, things speed up and the last 45 minutes offer a modest degree of suspense.

I saw this movie when I was ten years old at the Pequa Theatre in Massapequa, NY. For all it's Hollywood cheese it still is an emotional favorite of mine. I love the score by Alfred Newman and the look and feel of the movie. I laugh at some of the line readings now, and at the acting style , particularly Van Heflin, but when Dean Martin declares "we've got the lights" I still remember being that ten year old kid in the sitting in the dark watching a very suspenseful movie.

At the Movie House rating *** stars

365+ movies in 365 Days: Day 108 - Danger In The Skies Double Feature

Today was a double feature about airplanes in distress. First up was the 1957 film Zero Hour. When released this film was a high budget "B" picture about an airplane without a pilot. Dana Andrews stars as a passenger and former WWII pilot who is suffering from post traumatic stress who must safely land the plane. Sterling Hayden is his former commanding officer and now the Captain on the ground who must talk him down.

The movie is a straight forward melodrama with acceptable special effects for the time and the film would have slipped into obscurity except for the fact that the writers and director of Airplane used it as the blue print for the 1980 hit comedy. They purchased the rights to the film so they could lift dialogue and shots directly from the film. Essentially Airplane is a remake of Zero Hour played for big laughs.

It is impossible to watch Zero Hour without laughing because the images and lines from Airplane keep coming to mind. The movie itself is well made and Dana Andrews is particularly effective. By this time in his career his alcoholism had given him an aged haggard look that went well with his character.

The movie is based on a play by Arthur Hailey and he also adapted it into his first published novel. he went on to write the bestselling books Hotel, Airport, The Moneychangers and Overload.

At the Movie House rating **1/2 stars.

After Zero Hour I watched The High And The Mighty. This film has been on my must see list for many years. Ever since I first heard the theme song by Dimitri Tomkin.

For a long time it was the holy grail of out of print movies. It was last broadcast in the early 80's at the dawn of the VCR era and then pulled from distribution due to legal issues. Rare VHS copies taped off of AMC or Cinemax were sold on eBay. The movie was tangled up with John Wayne's estate and his production company for years. Even if the legal issues were sorted out there were concerns the movie would never be shown. The negative had suffered from water damage, fading color and there was a full reel missing. But an intense search and restoration was undertaken and the movie was restored and finally released to the public in 2005.

When you watch a movie like The High And The Mighty you can choose to watch it by today's standards and judge the movie accordingly or you can try to place yourself in the era the film was made and watch it by the movie making standards of the day. Either way it will always be an over wrought melodrama. It is also the first Airplane disaster movie made in Hollywood

The film starred John Wayne as a veteran 37 year pilot. He is now serving as a co-pilot on a commercial airliner flying between Honolulu and San Francisco. Robert Stack is his pilot and the remainder of the cast and crew are filled out by Hollywood "A" list and "B" list actors of the day. When an engine fails the plane is in danger of crashing into the sea. There is no turning back so the plane must try to make the perilous five hour flight to San Francisco. As the plane flies into destiny we learn about the lives of each of the passengers through (sometimes lengthy) flashbacks. We learn of lost love, failed dreams and possible new hopes as each passenger and crew member faces death. When the Captain gives into his fear, it is up to Wayne, who has already faced death, to help him snap out of it and bring the plane safely home.

The film is quaint by today's standards and overlong by any standard. But the acting and production values are very good. The film is one of the first to be released in CinemaScope and director William Wellman makes excellent use of the large screen size to make the plane appear small against the vast sky and still make the interior shots confining and a little claustrophobic.

The film was a huge success when it was released in 1954 and received multiple Academy Award nominations and it won an Oscar for the music score. It gave John Wayne a rare ensemble character role even though he had top billing.

At The Movie House rating *** stars

Farewell To At The Movies

Last night I watched the final episode of At The Movies. The show is going off the air after 35 years. The show began as a simple idea way back in 1975. Two critics with a love of film, Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert got together and discussed the merits of films in current release. The show was called Sneak Previews and was broadcast on PBS stations. I think I began watching it in 1978. The show morphed and changed names and was eventually purchased and produced by Buena Vista Television (Disney) and ABC Broadcasting co.

Gene and Roger made film criticism accessible to everyone. their lively discussions encouraged people to think about movies in a different way. They championed great movies that would have disappeared without their recommendation.

They invented (and trademarked) the "Thumbs up/Thumbs down" method of movie rating and soon became celebrities in their own way.

After Gene Siskel died in 1999 Roger continued with a new partner Richard Roeper. Roper brought a younger, more hip point of view to the program and also engaged Roger in lively discussions.

When Roger became ill Richard Roper continued with alternating guest host, including the current host Michael Phillips and A.O. Scott. When it was clear that Roger was not going to return to the show Disney fired both Roper and Ebert and revamped the show for the 2008 season. They brought on two new hosts Ben Lyons and Ben Mankiewicz to star and take the show in a fresh, new direction that would appeal to younger audiences. The show was a disaster. Lyons a  former host of Nickelodeon and E!TV had no film background and said the stupidest and most insipid things about film. Frequently Mankiewicz would sit there looking dumbfounded at what his co-host had just said. They tried to introduce all sorts of gimmicks that would appeal to the short attention spans of today's youth, but none of them worked.

In 2009 the show returned for it's final season with Micheal Phillips of The Chicago Tribune and A.O. Scott of The NY Times in the critics chairs and the film once again became an intelligent discussion about movies. The show used the "See it, Rent it or Skip it" format to determine if a movie was worth investing your time. Both Phillips and Scott were educated in film and they had lively discussions and were building the same kind of camaraderie that Gene and Roger once had.




But in 2010 Disney announced that it was pulling the plug because the show was not profitable enough. So it was making a profit, just not enough so after 35 years a television institution has been cancelled.

Roger Ebert has announced that he will be working on producing a show with the same format so hopefully lively conversations about movies will continue. In the meantime I will always have fond memories of Gene, Roger and the rest of the critics discussing good and bad movies alike. They all deserve a big thumbs up.

365+ movies in 365 Days: Day 107 - Salt

Today's movie was Salt, playing at the Century Tanforan Theatre in San Bruno.

A good chase movie has to have a few things going for it. It has to have a good set up, the chase has to seem real, the person running has to get battered and bruised a bit, they can't make it look to easy and most of all it has to move fast. Salt meets these criteria. It has an outrageous plot about Russian sleeper agents out to destroy America, but the whole thing is told in a fast pace that makes it all seem credible enough that you suspend your disbelief for an hour and a half minutes.

Angela Jolie stars as Evelyn Salt a CIA agent who may or may not be a Russian assassin. She does many of her own stunts and that is what gives the film it's credibility. She shoots, fights, runs, jumps and climbs as any good super agent can.

Leiv Schreiber also stars as her boss who can't bring himself to believe that she is really a double agent. The whole film is a compact 100 minutes from start to finish and keeps you on the edge of your seat most of the time. The ending is left open for a sequel and I am sure the studio hopes, a franchise.

At The Movie House *** stars

365+ movies in 365 Days: Day 106 - Alfred Hitchcock's Alventure Malgache

Today's film was a short film made by Alfred Hitchcock during WWII. By the time war broke out in Europe Hitchcock had already moved to the United States. But he felt a need to contribute to the war effort so he returned to Great Britain in 1943 and directed two propaganda films for the British Ministry of Information.  Both films, Bon Voyage and Aventure Malgache (Adventure In Madagascar) were aimed towards the French and were about the French resistance.

Aventure Malgache tells the two story of two men, a corrupt official and a lawyer who are on opposite sides. The official supports the new Third Reich supported Vichy government and the lawyer supports the allies. Their duel of personal animosity plays out on the island of Madagascar, during the early part of the war. The film is told in a flashback style by an actor discussing his role in the resistance.

the film has strong production values. The movie was made with French actors and technicians, all living in England and had fled France at the start of the war. The film itself is a curiosity. There are no other movies telling anything about how the war affected Madagascar or other Indian ocean countries. After the war the film was filed away at the British Film Institute and has rarely been seen until recently. In the meantime Hitchcock returned to Hollywood and resumed his career with Spellbound.

At The Movie House rating **1/2 stars (interesting but not worth seeking out unless you are purposely looking for examples of Hitchcock's early work)

365+ movies in 365 Days: Day 105 - Alfred Hitchcock's Rope

To celebrate Hitchcock's birthday I chose to watch Rope. This is a film I have not seen in over twenty years and felt it deserved a second look. It is a unique film and Hitchcock himself called it a "stunt film".
It is also the first time Hitchcock worked with James Stewart and is Hitchcock's first color film.

The film is a stunt because Hitchcock made the film without any edits. Every take is about 12 minutes long, the length of time it takes to expose a roll of film, and the camera never moves away from the characters. To change the film the camera would briefly pause on the back of a jacket or door and then the action would continue. It makes the film more like a stage play than a movie.

In doing this the audience becomes voyeurs to the action. Almost as if we are silent guest at the dinner party, yet we know the secret of what went on, because we were in the room when the murder was committed.

The film is rich in dialogue and Hitchcock's use of imagery to represent the themes of play, sex, food, ritual and murder. The rope in the film has a triple symbolism. It is used to bind up a pile of books, pointing to the boys past, their education and when they developed the idea of murder. It lives in the present, the weapon used to commit the murder and it indicates the future, for they will surely hang for the crime they have committed.

The stagy feel of the film will not be to every one's taste, especially to modern audiences, but the the film is unique even among Hitchcock's work and worth a look.

At The Movie House rating ***

Happy Birthday Alfred Hitchcock

Alfred Hitchcock's birthday is today. He was born in 1899 and had a film career that lasted from 1921 to 1976. He passed away in 1980 at the age of 80. He is probably the greatest and most well known film director. His name is synonymous with suspense, mystery and thrillers. Hitchcock's work has influenced generations of film makers and audiences.
he made more than fifty films in a career that lasted over 60 years. He changed the way movies were made and the way we watched them.

His first Hollywood film, Rebecca, won an Oscar for Best Picture. But, in the greatest oversight by The Academy Of Motion Pictures of Arts and Sciences, he was never awarded  a Best Director Oscar for any of his films. He was also a huge success in television and publishing.




I have seen most of his films, except his early British work,  and the few Hollywood films I have missed (Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Under Capricorn, Stage Fright, The Wrong Man, Topaz, and Family Plot) I plan on screening in October, during my month of horror and suspense.

Hitchcock worked with some great collaborators. He made four films each with James Stewart and Cary Grant and his favorite female muses were Grace Kelly and Ingrid Bergman. He entrusted the musical scores of his movies to Bernard Hermann, whose sore for Vertigo is one of the best pieces of film music ever written. And his score for Psycho is known the world over and instantly calls to mind the image of a stabbing knife.

Hitchcock also delighted in making brief cameo appearances in his movies and at times had to use very clever ways to insert himself into the movie. The film Lifeboat, set on a small boat in the Atlantic Ocean was probably his biggest challenge, but watch closely and you'll see him.

Below I have listed my personal Top 10 Hitchcock films. In making the list I struggled on which films to cut. If I made the list longer I would have included To Catch A Thief, Dial M For Murder, The 39 Steps, The Lady Vanishes and Rope.

#10  The Birds

#9   The Man Who Knew Too Much

#8 Notorious

#7 Rebecca

#6   Rear Window

#5   Shadow Of A Doubt

#4   Strangers On A Train

#3   North By Northwest

#2   Psycho

#1   Vertigo

365+ movies in 365 Days: Day 104 - The Wizard Of Oz

71 years ago, on August 12, 1939, in a small town in Wisconsin, The Wizard Of Oz premiered at the Strand Theatre. Three days later it opened at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood and on August 17th it opened at the Loews's Capitol in NYC. It received both critical and popular acclaim and was nominated for multiple Oscars. Because of annual telecasts that began in 1956, The Library of Congress has declared The Wizard Of Oz to be the most watched film in history.

I watched the film every year growing up. I have seen it on VHS and laser disc and I went to a theatrical re-release in 1989 to celebrate it's 50th Anniversary. But until tonight, when I sat down to watch it on Blu-Ray on my high def TV, I had never really seen the film. The film is so vivid. The sepia tones in the Kansas section has crisp lines and shadows, and in OZ everything is more brilliant and has more sparkle than ever before. The ruby slippers are redder, the yellow brick road yellower and Oz itself is greener than ever.

It is a fabulous movie that never fails to entertain. After 71 years the make -up and the special effects, especially the tornado, hold up well and it was all done without the aid of computers. The film has so many memorable moments, from Judy singing the wistful song, Over The Rainbow, to the wicked witch dispatching her army of flying monkeys. The script is sharp, with many iconic lines:

"Toto, I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore"

"I'll get you my pretty and your little dog too"

"Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!"

"There's no place like home"

The film will continue to delight audiences young and old for generations to come.

At The Movie House rating **** stars

note - the book the film is based on, The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz, is celebrating it's 110th Anniversary this year. It was origianlly published on May 17, 1900.

365+ movies in 365 Days: Day 103 - Nanny McPhee

With the sequel coming out this weekend I thought I would take a look at the 2006 film Nanny McPhee. The film stars Emma Thompson, who also wrote the screenplay, as Nanny McPhee, who comes when you need her but don't want her and must leave when you want her and don't need her.  Before watching this I wondered if, after Mary Poppins, the world needed another film about a magical British nanny and I guess we did. maybe we didn't need it but it was very enjoyable just the same.

Nanny McPhee tells the story of Cedric Brown, played by Colin Firth, a widow, and his seven unruly children. The children delight in scaring off nannies and working her to make sure they do not acquire a mean stepmother. But Cedric is at his financial end, and if does not follow his great-aunts wishes and take a new wife his allowance will be cut off. Unable to find a replacement nanny (the 18th) he does not know where to turn when Nanny McPhee turns up on his doorstep.

She may be as magical as Mary Poppins, but she is not as pretty. With a bulbous nose, ruddy complexion, a unibrow, warts, graying hair, lumpy figure and a snaggle-tooth, she looks more like a witch than a nanny.
She begins to set things right in the household by teaching the children five lessons. It also seems she has some lessons for the father as well.

The movie is a brightly colored fairy tale for children. At first I was annoyed by the noisy behavior of the kids and I was prepared for a rather unpleasant experience, but the movie changes tone when nanny McPhee arrives and does become a little magical. The story is contrived and the humor is over the top, but Emma Thompson and Colin Firth hold their own amidst the magical happenings. The movie also features Imelda Staunton as the house cook, Kelly MacDonald as the scullery maid, and Angela Landsbury as great-aunt Adelaide.

It's a kids movie but it works its magic on adults too.

At the Movie House rating *** stars

365+ movies in 365 Days: Day 102 - Patricia Neal Tribute: A Face In the Crowd

Tonight's final film in my tribute to Patricia Neal is the 1957 drama, A Face In The Crowd. the film's title is taken from a small town morning radio show program run by Marcia Jeffries. She goes around interviewing regular, every-day folks for her show. One day she interviews some men imprisoned in a county jail in northern Arkansas. Here she meets Larry Rhodes (Andy Griffith), whom she dubs "Lonesome Rhodes". Rhodes is a big hit and soon he is a regular feature on her show. Rhodes has a home-spun folksy way of talking to people that charms them. This conceals his "off the air" personality, where he belittles those around him and treats everyone with contempt.

Rhodes success leads to a television show in Memphis and eventually a coast to coast show in NYC. Is ability to influence the audience to purchase the sponsors products is seen by some as a way to win elections and soon you have a confluence of politics, media, personality and power.

The film belongs to Andy Griffith and his performance is very different than the lovable sheriff he played on his TV show. Griffith plays his character with the charm of a snake oil salesman, but underneath there is something dark and unpleasant. There is a quick moment when we first me him in jail. A jail mate wakes him up and you can see a flash of anger and hatred on his face. then when he sees the female reporter he quickly turns on the charm with his 100 watt smile. Neal is excellent as the woman who sets Rhodes on the path of success and watches as his hunger for power and fame consume him, until she feels she must stop him once and for all. Walter Matthau makes an early career appearance as a writer on Rhodes TV show. he has nothing but contempt for Rhodes but is not man enough to say anything. And lee Remmick makes her film debut as a baton twirling high school girl who comes under Rhodes spell.

The film was directed by Elia Kazan and written by Budd Shulberg. It has great momentum in the beginning but meanders a bit in the final act. While watching it I could not help think of the political populists such as Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck. It's amazing that this film foresaw the power of television to package and sell politics to the masses back in 1957.

At The Movie House rating *** stars.

365+ movies in 365 Days: Day 101 - Patricia Neal Tribute: Hud

Patricia Neal won the first of her two Oscars for her performance as Alma in the 1963 drama Hud. Hud tells the story of three generations of the Bannon family. Melvyn Douglas is Homer Bannon, the family patriarch and a man of unbending principals. Paul Newman is Hud Bannon, his son, and a man of no principles at all. And caught between them is Brandon de Wilde as Lon, Homer's grandson and Hud's nephew. Riding herd on these three men is Patricia Neal as Alma, the housekeeper.

Directed by Martin Ritt the film is a modern melodramatic western along the lines of Giant, Long Hot Summer, Cat On A Hot Tin Roof and East Of Eden. The action of cattle drives and shoot-outs is replaced with family conflict and sexual tension.

In this case Hud believes his father blames him for the death of his older brother and that is why Homer holds Hud in such contempt. Lon does not understand it and idolizes Hud and his boozing and womanizing ways. But the rift between Hud and his father goes much deeper and it is one that can never be healed.

All three leads, Newman Douglas and Neal were nominated for Academy Awards and Neal and Douglas won. the film was nominated for a total of seven Oscars and was awarded three. The other Oscar went to James Wong Howe for his superb B&W wide screen cinematography. The film is absolutely stunning to look at and the images are accompanied by and evocative score composed by Elmer Bernstein. The film was also nominated for Best Director, Best Screenplay and best Art Direction (b&w)

At the Movie House rating **** stars

365+ movies in 365 Days: Day 100 - Patricia Neal Tribute: The Day The Earth Stood Still

Patricia Neal passed away today at the age of 84. I first saw Patricia Neal in the TV movie The Homecoming: A Christmas Story, this pilot movie for the Walton's TV show has become a Christmas favorite.

I still remember the first time I watched it and my mother talked about Patricia Neal, saying she had suffered a stroke and was great to see her return to acting. Her performance as Olivia Walton, the matriarch of the Walton clan, is excellent. She is the embodiment of an Appalachian mother struggling to survive day to day during the depression. There is a scene where she gives a short speech about wishing for spring and you can hear the longing in her voice for better times. It was a shame that the producers were concerned for her health and did not offer her the role of Olivia Walton for the successful TV series.

Neal won and Academy Award for Best Actress playing opposite Paul Newman in the movie Hud. She was also nominated in 1968 for her performance in The Subject Was Roses. This film was her return to acting after recovery and rehabilitation from the series of strokes she had in 1965. She also appeared on Broadway and won a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her role in Another Part Of The Forest.

Two of her other famous roles were opposite Andy Griffith in A Face In The Crowd and early in her career she starred in the sci-fi classic The Day The Earth Stood Still. In this film she uttered the immortal line "Gort, Klaatu barada nikto!"

The Day The Earth Stood Still is one of the earliest Hollywood films to deal with an alien invasion. Released in 1951the film starred Micheal Rennie as the alien Klaatu, and was directed by Robert Wise (West Side Story, Sound Of Music, The Sand Pebbles). The film is very simple by today's standards and also very preachy as a message movie for the cold war mentality of the day. The big budget effects back then are very sub-standard today. But the film still holds up well. The first two thirds featuring the arrival of the flying saucer in Washington and the shutting down of the world's electrical systems are done effectively. All the actors, including Neal, give the material the respect it deserves and that lifts the film up out of the level of "B" picture.

Watching it today I chuckled at the scenes of the space ship in the park with only two guards. The throngs of the curious public and the hungry media hordes would surround such a ship night and day. Robert Wise should have checked out Billy Wilder's Ace In The Hole to see how to put a media event on film.


The Day The Earth Stood Still is considered a classic today and set the standard for many films to follow.

At the Movie House rating ***1/2 stars.

365+ movies in 365 Days: Day 99 - Aladdin

For today's film I revisited a Disney classic, Aladdin. Aladdin was Disney's 31st feature film and the third film in the Disney animated renaissance of the 1990's. The film is notable for featuring Robin Williams as the Genie. This is the first time Disney used a major celebrity to to star in one of their animated films. And it is William's appearance that dates the film more than any other Disney movies from this period.

Williams recorded all of his dialogue, ad-libbing much of it, and then the artist drew the scenes based on Williams performance. Williams included references to Groucho Marx, Jack Nicholson, William F. Buckley and Rodney Dangerfield. These images cause the film to be like one of those old Merry Melody cartoons where they featured stars of the day who are not as relevant any more. That being said, the Genie is the best thing in the film. The film also contains one of the most magical side kicks the folks at Disney ever invented, the flying carpet. Through the magic of animation they gave a piece of carpet expressions and movement as lively as any other character in the film. 

The animation itself is excellent and Disney used computers to assist with some of it. The songs are by Alan Menken, Howard Ashman (who died during production) and Tim Rice. Only six songs are used in the film and they work well without stopping the film in it's tracks. The film is entertaining without being up to the standard set by it's predecessors The Little Mermaid and Beauty And The Beast.

365+ movies in 365 Days: Day 98 - Zodiac

My on location in San Francisco series continues with a screening of the film Zodiac. This is a film I really wish I had seen in a movie theatre. David Fincher's meticulous crime thriller leads you deeper and deeper into obsession as the police and reporters search for the serial killer who stalked the bay area in the 60's and 70's.

The film stars Jake Gyllenhaal as Robert Graysmith, a cartoonist who worked at the San Francisco Chronicle, Robert Downey, Jr. as the papers hard drinking crime reporter, and Mark Ruffalo as Dave Toschi and Anthony Edwards as Bill Armstrong, the San Francisco police detectives assigned to the case.
The follows the murders and real life investigation that went into trying to catch the Zodiac.

The film recreates the time period in meticulous detail. The movie is filmed in high -def digital with outstanding use of CGI to recreate a city that existed 40 years ago. The movie presents hundreds of details about the Zodiac and takes place over a period of years, all over California, but the audience is never lost. Each step of the way we see how the clues unfolded to reveal who the killer might be.

In many ways the film reminded me of All The President's Men. It had the tension and suspense that occurs when a mystery is being unraveled, but its focus is on the day to day routines of the police and reporters who attempt to catch the killer. The movie then goes one step further and takes the audience into obsession, when finding the killer begins to consume Robert Graysmith. When he becomes so focused on revealing the identity of the Zodiac he becomes clueless to the danger he is putting himself and his family into.

The film avoids all the standard cliches of today's Hollywood movies. No car chases, no shoot-outs and no neat tidy ending. The Zodiac was never caught and the film stays true to real life showing that some mystery's are never solved.

At The Movie House rating **** stars

365+ movies in 365 Days: Day 97 - Freebie And The Bean

My on location series of films set in San Francisco continued with the "buddy cop" comedy Freebie And The Bean. The movie was released in 1974, eight years before the "buddy cop" genre became a summer blockbuster staple with the hit 48 HRS.

The movie stars James Caan in a rare comedic role and Alan Arkin. They are two detectives working to bring down a local crime boss who runs a truck hijacking gang. They are trying to locate their star witness in order to make the arrest. But when they learn their is a contract out on the boss, they must spend a weekend trying to protect him, before they can arrest him.

The film makes use of many San Francisco locations including Candlestick Park on Super Bowl Sunday. There are multiple car chases involving hundreds of cars and a third floor apartment.

The film would have worked better as a straight action thriller with the two cops being funny with each other. Instead some of the comedy is to over the top. The film is funny when it should be serious and overly violent for a comedy. There is a sub-plot involving bean's wife (Valerie Harper) and a suspected affair that works. The movie also has a bit of a surprise at the end. Arkin and Caan spend a lot of time yelling at each other with over lapping dialogue so it's hard to hear what they say. You cans see Arkin put this type of character to better use in the 1979 comedy The In-Laws.

I saw this film when I was 15 and I didn't remember it very well. It was big hit back in 1974 and even spawned a brief TV series based on the characters.

At The Movie House rating **

365+ movies in 365 Days: Day 96 - Days Of Wine and Roses

I watched another movie filmed on location in the Bay area. This time I chose The Days Of Wine And Roses a rared dramatic film directed by Blake Edwards and starring Jack Lemmon and in a career defining role, Lee Remick.

The movie tells the story of an average young couple who's life of social drinking slowly spirals out of control into alcoholism. It's one of the first films to truly depict the horrors of alcoholism and the workings of AA.

Jack Lemmon is excellent as the PR man whose job requires him to hoist  a few, but whose drinking slowly takes over his life. And Lee Remick gives the performance of her career as a girl he meets and marries and introduces her to the fun that can be had with booze. The movie can be brutal at times even though some of the medical scenes seem dated.

Jack Klugman and Charles Bickford turn in stellar supporting roles and Edwards does a superb job handling the material without giving in to melodrama.

My only issue with the film is that after watching Jack Lemmon for years one I can identify most of his signature mannerisms and they are all on display here and that can be come distracting.

At the Movie House rating ***1/2 stars

365+ movies in 365 Days: Day 95 - Paths Of Glory

Day 95 was a double feature. I could not sleep early this morning and was flipping through the cable channels and came across paths Of Glory just as it was about to begin. I have seen the film 3 or 4 times, but it has been at least 10 years since the last time I watched it.

If you don't know this is the film that established Stanley Kubrick has a master film maker. It is a perfect movie. from script, to acting, directing, cinematography, every aspect of the film is flawless. It is a tightly wound film, with out a single extraneous moment. The whole movie is a brief 84 minutes, but Kubrick packs a lot into those minutes.

The film stars Kirk Douglas as Col. Drax a soldier in the French Army, during WW1. he is pushed into leading a hopeless attack by General Mireau, played to pompous perfection by George McReady. The General knows the attack will fail, but orders it any way in order to gain a promotion. Mireau is manipulated into ordering the attack by General George Broulard (Adolphe Menjou) a member of the French General Staff. Broulard wants the attack for political or public relations purposes, not military.
When the attack does fail, General Mireau orders three men tried for cowardice and it falls on Col. Drax to defend them at their Court Martial.

The film is completely anti-war. The  futility and stupidity of war is all there in the film, but not once does the movie preach. There is no glorification of war in this film. Death is not pretty. The movie is filmed in B&W during a time when most movies were made in color. But there is no need for color, the cold harsh conditions, the misery and the death is all there. The audience does not need to see the blood to know it runs red. And there is no happy ending. The film avoids the trap of a Hollywood ending and instead offers up a melancholy song, sung by soldiers that know their blood will soon be spilled in the never ending carnage.

The film has many of the famous Kubrick touches. Most notable are the long tracking shots. the first is when Col. Drax tours the trenches the morning of the attack. The camera shifts from his point of view to him walking what seems miles of trenches. The next shot is when the soldiers are being marched to the firing squad. they walk down a column of soldiers on each side, and they walk and they walk. And with every step the tension builds.Will there be a last minute reprieve for these three unjustly condemned men. Will the General be exposed for what he is, a fool and a coward?

At the Movie House rating **** stars.

365+ movies in 365 Days: Day 95 - Time After Time

I continued watching films set in San Francisco and tonight I screened Time After Time, the sci-fi thriller from 1979. Time After Time is an ingenious time travel novel that crosses H.G. Wells with Jack The Ripper to create a very engaging movie.

A close friend of H.G. Wells is secretly the serial killer known as Jack The Ripper. In order to avoid capture by Scotland Yard he steals away in Wells' famous time machine and ends up in modern day (1979) San Francisco, where the machine is on exhibit as a model created by Wells. Wells follows him to San Francisco wear he discovers that The Ripper has already begun a new series of murders.

The movies novel idea is supported by an extremely engaging cast. Malcolm McDowell is the idealistic and somewhat naive Wells. David Warner is at his sinister best as Doctor John Stevenson, aka Jack The Ripper and Mary Steenburgen plays Amy Robbins, a Bank Of England employee who crosses paths with both Wells and Stevenson and becomes targeted as The Rippers next victim.

One of the enjoyable aspects of the film is watching the H.G. Wells character observe and adapt to modern society. McDowell plays it in a perfect state of befuddlement. What would a time traveler think of modern day America. there is a brief homage to the car chase in Bullitt when a taxi drives full speed down California Avenue and the same sound effects of Steve McQueen's Mustang are used.

The ploy moves briskly and is highly engaging. The ending could be more dramatic and the special effects are definitely retro and don't hold up. This is one movie that could use a remake.

At The Movie House rating ***

365+ movies in 365 Days: Day 94 - The Towering Inferno

I stayed with the dual themes of Steve McQueen and San Francisco by watching the 1974 disaster film The Towering Inferno. This all star epic is the best of a series of disaster movies released in the 1970's.

The Towering Inferno was also the biggest of them all. It was made by two studios, 20th Century Fox and Warner Brothers. It was based on two best selling novels, The Tower and The Glass Inferno. It had two directors, John Guillerman (The Blue Max, Skyjacked, King Kong) and Irwin Allen (The Poseidon Adventure, uncredited). The film also features the two biggest leading men in Hollywood at the time, Paul Newman and Steve McQueen. Newman and McQueen were supported by an all star cast featuring William Holden, Faye Dunaway, Richard Chamberlain, Robert Wagner, Fred Astaire, Jennifer Jones and Robert Vaughn.

If you don't know, the movie is about a group of people trapped on the top floor of the world's tallest building as a fire rages many floors below. All avenues of escape are closed off and every rescue attempt fails. Before and during the fire we get to know something about each character and we have to wait and see who will live and who will die.

The movie was influenced by the big urban development and skyscraper boom of the 1960's. Two years prior to the films release the Twin Towers were completed and both novels the movie is based on were inspired by the building of the World Trade Center. The films subject matter became more pertinent when there were two high rise fires in San Paulo, Brazil. The Joelma high rise fire in February 1974 killed 179 people and injured 300 more.

The disaster films of the 70's are generally remembered as being full of ridiculous melodramatic dialogue and unrealistic special effects. Earthquake, Avalanche, The Swarm, Airport '75, Airport '77 and Beyond The Poseidon Adventure all deserve the reputation for pure Hollywood trash. But the big three films; Airport, The Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno all have something to offer in the thrills and entertainment category. The film was a smash hit in 1974 and was nominated for Best Picture.
The film was also nominated for Best Supporting Actor, Best Music Score (an excellent music score by John Williams) Best Sound and best Art Direction. The film earned three Oscars for Best Cinematography, Best Original Song and Best Film Editing. The movie is a masterful combination of special effects and stunt work to create a massive burning skyscraper in downtown San Francisco. Once again the special effects are much more realistic than some of the CGI stuff created today. I watched the film on the newly restored Blu-Ray and the picture and sound are excellent.

I remember seeing The Towering Inferno at The Bar Harbour Theatre in Massapequa Park. I went with my mother and my sister. It was the middle of the summer and I remember that, because I had a bad sunburn, it was really chilly in the theatre. To this day I can still recall my mother holding up her hands and covering her eyes during the scene when Robert Wagner attempts to escape his burning office by dashing for the door. The scene is just as horrific and powerful today.

Sadly, it is impossible to watch the film without being reminded of the real fires and collapse of the Twin Towers on 9/11.

At The Movie House rating ***1/2 stars

Steve Mcqueen

As part of it's Summer Under The Stars series, TCM (Turner Classic Movies) will be featuring Steve McQueen on Tuesday, August 3rd. You can see Bullitt as well as The Great Escape, The Magnificent Seven, The Blob, The Cinncinatti Kid and LeMans, and some othe rgreat McQueen films. For a full schedule follow the link or go to TCM.com

365+ movies in 365 Days: Day 93 - Bullitt

I stayed in San Francisco and watched the influential cop thriller Bullitt. The film starred Steve McQueen as the ultimate in cool police officer, and is famous for it's car chase between a Ford Mustang and a Dodge Charger. Director Peter Yates took 3 weeks to film the chase all over San Francisco to end up with nine minutes of film. The cars were equipped with cameras and McQueen, an accomplished driver, did most of his own stunt driving in the Mustang. The driver of the Charger was Bud Ekins a famed stuntman, who played a hit man and getaway car driver. Yates achieved a fantastic amount of realism in the chase because he could photograph these two men at the wheel of the cars while going at extremely high speeds. The car chase in Bullitt set the standard, and was influential for many film makers, including William Freidkin and the famous car chase in The French Connection. Peter Bogdonavich spoofed the chase in What's Up Doc and other films followed with famous chases through San Francisco, including Foul Play and A View To A Kill.

The film also introduced the concept of the hip, cool police officer who was insubordinate and usually had to solve the case despite interference from his commanding officer or politicians. This type of cop was later scene in Dirty Harry, The French Connection and started appearing in TV shows, such as Baretta, Kojack and Starsky And Hutch.

Lt. Bullitt is chosen by a powerful politician to protect a witness who is to appear at a Senate hearing in 40 hours. When the witness is killed Bullitt is determined to find out who set him up, and the politician, played by Robert Vaughn, is determined to bring Bullitt down. During the investigation Bullitt is followed by the killers, but he turns the table on them and this leads to the high speed pursuit all over San Francisco. Later on, when Bullitt solves the mystery, there is another chase, this time on foot, across the runways of San Francisco Airport. This scene was obviously filmed on location, with real planes moving about and is totally authentic, unlike so many of today's CGI created action sequences. Putting actors on location, instead of in front of a blue screen really pays off in giving the film a sense of realism and true suspense.

The movie has one flaw. For whatever reason the director or writer felt in necessary to add sex-appeal to the movie by casting Jacqueline Bisset in the film as Bullitt's love interest. None of the scenes with Bisset work. There is a restaurant scene that plays out for 5 minutes, with no dialogue that is pointless. Bisset delivers a speech about Bullitt becoming jaded because of all the violence he sees and it stops the movie cold. The movie would be about 15 minutes shorter if they removed her parts, but would play at a much tighter pace. This was one mistake Don Siegel did not make when he directed Dirty Harry.

At The Movie House rating ***1/2

365+ movies in 365 Days: Day 92 - What's Up Doc

I watched another San Francisco based film today, the Barbra Streisand comedy What's Up Doc. Released in 1972 the film showed that the screwball comedy was not dead, it was just waiting for the right director to revive it and put a modern spin on it. That director was Peter Bogdonavich.

He wanted to make a film that was a homage to the films of Howard Hawks such as Bringing Up Baby and His Girl Friday. he achieved that and more by gathering some of the best comedic talent around. The screenplay was written by Buck Henry and the film stars a wide cast of superb screen comics including Austin Pendelton, Lima Dunn, Sorrell Brooke, Kenneth Mars and John Hillerman. The film also introduced Madeline Khan in her first big role and she steals the picture from everyone else. The weakest person in the film is Ryan O'Neal. He has some great dead pan lines but most of the time he is trying to be Cary Grant at his screwball best, but we all know there is only one Cary Grant.

The plot involves four identical travel bags that get mixed up and it seems everyone is tyring to get their hands on. After many comedic antics the film ends with a wild chase all over San Francisco that is a take off of the car chase in Bullitt.

Barbra Streisand proves herself to be an excellent comedienne in the film that does not require her to perform musical numbers and does not force her to conform to the script of a Broadway show. Her timing is split second perfect and you can't help watching her to see what she'll do next.

What's Up Doc is a very funny screwball comedy, the kind they just don't make anymore

At The Movie House rating *** stars