I may never have seen a Charlie Chan movie before? I mean, I must have, but I can’t recall doing so. So this comes as something of a surprise: It feels pretty much like a TV episode of a long-running show (which I guess it is, except it’s not on TV), but the production values are higher than I expected. I mean, the basics — the film is crisp, the audio’s good, the actors are fine… and Charlie Chan’s son is played by a guy that looks East Asian.
Sidney Toler’s facial prosthetics are horrible, though.
I’m liking this. The mystery is pretty interesting, and it’s got plenty of charm.
I wonder whether this DVD has been sourced from a recording from a broadcast? Hm… probably not? It’s very artefactey, but it doesn’t look like VHS artefacts.
This is a Ritz Brothers movie? I’m ashamed to say that I’ve never heard of them. But:
That’s a lot of movies. They were Marx Brothers knockoffs or something?
Patsy Kelly is fun.
Finally! The Brothers!
Anyway, this is a cheap and cheerful B movie. Sometimes these can be way better than they have any reason to be… but this isn’t one of those. I mean, it’s fine! It’s amusing throughout, and has some good scenes going, and some dramatic cinematography, but it’s not actually funny? The gags keep coming, but they all make you go “yes, that’s a gag” instead of laughing.
The death of the Ritz Brothers’ father caused production of the film in January to be delayed. Fox placed a $150,000 suit against the Ritz brothers for a breach of contract as the film was stated to start production on January 30, but was halted when the Ritz Brothers did not show up.
Goodbye Mr. Chips. Sidney Franklin & Sam Wood. 1939.
This is a very odd movie… in that it’s so quotidian. It’s basically the story (told in flashback) of a guy that’s worked as a teacher at a public, i.e., private school in England. So we follow him from when he starts as a young, not particularly well liked teacher until his dotage, when he’s very much liked indeed.
So it starts at Sentimentality Level 11 and then takes off from there.
But it’s strangely captivating.
OK, then we divert into a love story.
:
In 1999, Goodbye, Mr. Chips was voted the 72nd greatest British film ever in the British Film Institute Top 100 British films poll.
It was also nominated for All The Oscars… and then Gone With The Win won them all. (Except Best Actor.)
OK, this is a really, really sentimental movie (which I like), but there are parts that drag. It’s fun to watch a movie that has no conflict — it’s a giant middle finger pointed towards modern Hollywood tropes.
Oooh! Hitch! And I don’t think I’ve seen this one before? Is that even possible?
This has been expertly restored by the Cohen Film Collection and the BFI. Looks really sharp, but with lots of grain.
:
In 1978, film critic Michael Medved gave Jamaica Inn a place in his book The Fifty Worst Films of All Time.
That’s harsh, but this is a movie strangely lacking in tension. Apparently the production wasn’t a happy one — Laughton was the producer and lorded it over Hitch, and Hitch lost interest.
Oh, this is by the same guy who made the confusingly made “Wife, Husband and Friend” movie earlier this year. (Are they all the same person? Two people? Three?)
We’re now in May, for those people who don’t know where week eighteen is.
This is an odd one. I’m guessing this is a low budget B movie? But it doesn’t really look like one — the sets are nice and the cinematography is standard.
But the pacing and the performances are just way off. We’re now 15 minutes into the film, and there’s been just one awkward scene after another. The actors aren’t asking “line?” on camera, but it feels like they might have.
What the fuck!? Al Jolson is still doing his blackface thing? In 1939!? Didn’t that go out of style like five years earlier?
This really is an odd movie.
Oh, right! I forgot. This is supposed to take place in 1920? Never mind!
Among the lyrics is “dixie”, “mammie” and “Swanee river”.
Scary!
Shadows.
I was totally bored with this movie, but Rose finally gets signed by Ziegfeld for one of his follies, and then we get a long piece from that… and it’s absolutely magical!
But then we’re back to the plot and it’s boring again.
This isn’t a good movie. It’s nine hours of boredom and ten minutes of transcendent beauty. The plot isn’t that bad, but there’s no humour, and the stars haven’t really got any chemistry. It wouldn’t take much to tweak this into an entertaining screwball comedy — just Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant and some jokes — but it’s got none of that.
