Random Thoughts

Oh, this is the Agatha Christie thing! I’ve seen a bunch of versions and read the book etc, but I don’t think I’ve seen this version before. And I’ve forgotten who the murderer is. How delightful.

At first I thought that they had embellished the novel greatly (as they usually did back in the days; all the script writers seemed to think they were more clever than Christie (spoiler: they weren’t)), but I think that’s wrong? This movie seems the most genuinely Christie-like movie of the early ones I’ve seen, although René Clair has added some comedy bits. I think.

This bluray restoration is… OK? I mean, they’ve preserved every last bit of grain from the film? Perhaps overdoing it? But there’s an annoying flickering effect: It’s like there’s a very very regular dimming thing going on: It’s like it cycles between dark and light four times per second. It’s not horrible, but it’s something that should have been fixed.

This is a very enjoyable watch. So many genteel murders.

And Then There Were None. René Clair. 1945.

Popular movies in October 1945 according to IMDB:

Poster	Votes	Rating	Movie
	34220	7.6	Spellbound
	9637	7.6	And Then There Were None
	533	7.2	Kitty
	2515	7.2	Pursuit to Algiers
	744	7.1	Perfect Strangers
	1873	7.0	Bud Abbott and Lou Costello in Hollywood
	284	6.9	Strange Confession
	741	6.7	Week-End at the Waldorf
	544	6.5	The Dolly Sisters
	1139	6.4	The Spanish Main

This blog post is part of the Decade series.

Surely I’ve seen this Joan Crawfordaganza before, but it really doesn’t seem very familiar…

This is the Criterion-restored DVD version. It’s good, but it doesn’t look as brilliant as their best restorations do. The blacks never go down to full blackness, so everything is a bit washed out… but perhaps that’s what the director was going for.

And speaking of directing: This film is one awesome film noir show after another. It’s really quite astounding. Everything underlines the tension and the mystery; everybody’s smoking all the time; all the guys crack wise and all the gals are gorgeous.

It’s noirer than noir. Well, at least the framing section is: The main part of the movie is a flashback to brighter times, and the cinematography changes radically.

There’s no menzion of ze var except for one guy saying that “nylons are out for the duration”, which I assume is about stocking shortages…

I guess it’d be extremely easy to make a parody of this movie, because it’s so over the top and bits of the storyline are so… well… clichéd. Like the very-much telegraphed sex/death thing. But the melodrama really is gripping.

I think it sags when we get into the Vedaness of the plot and it kinda spins off into boredom.

Mildred Pierce. Michael Curtiz. 1945.

Popular movies in September 1945 according to IMDB:

Poster	Votes	Rating	Movie
	16604	8.0	Mildred Pierce
	337	8.0	Come Out Fighting
	8183	7.7	Dead of Night
	1272	7.6	Our Vines Have Tender Grapes
	2170	6.8	The House on 92nd Street
	3040	6.6	Isle of the Dead

This blog post is part of the Decade series.

!!!

Dum ti dum ti dum…

WHAAAA AYN RAND!

So it this going to be a super-corny schmaltzy ode to objectivism?

It’s a budget movie? It looks like it’s been filmed on the cheapest, most cramped sound stages.

I assume that it ended up in my queue due to block-voting on imdb (I selected movies that had a combination of significant views and high votes).

This is Cyrano de Bergerac repeated not as a comedy, but as a turgid sentimental tragedy of a romantic movie.

It’s twaddle, but some scenes are so awkward that they’re almost great.

Love Letters. William Dieterle. 1945.

Popular movies in August 1945 according to IMDB:

Poster	Votes	Rating	Movie
	924	7.4	Pride of the Marines
	1932	7.3	The Southerner
	286	7.3	The True Glory
	211	7.2	Divorce
	1127	7.2	Love Letters
	844	7.1	The Shanghai Cobra
	2863	7.1	State Fair
	1010	7.0	Lady on a Train
	868	6.9	The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry
	2272	6.6	Ziegfeld Follies

This blog post is part of the Decade series.

Hey! Why did this premiere in July? I assumed they did Xmas movies at Xmas? Is imdb wrong about the release date?

Oh, this is delightful. It’s got a classic screwball set-up, charming actors and witty repartee.

The “You have a baby? I want to give him a bath!” bit is even more unintentionally hilarious than the rest of the proceedings (which are very funny indeed).

Geez! It’s difficult to find anything to say when a movie is this amiable. It’s not a perfect movie by any means, but it’s extremely enjoyable.

Christmas in Connecticut. Peter Godfrey. 1945.

Popular movies in July 1945 according to IMDB:

Poster	Votes	Rating	Movie
	293	8.0	Mr. Muggs Rides Again
	5343	7.5	Christmas in Connecticut
	6218	7.2	Anchors Aweigh
	356	7.1	The Cheaters
	223	6.9	Incendiary Blonde
	245	6.7	Guest Wife
	1359	6.6	Along Came Jones
	384	6.5	The Falcon in San Francisco
	242	6.5	Over 21
	381	6.1	A Thousand and One Nights

This blog post is part of the Decade series.

It feels like weeks since I saw the previous movie… perhaps because it was?

Gotta catch up now then.

Wow, this is an odd movie. It’s a screwball comedy, but it’s set in a such a nightmarish milieu that it’s sometimes difficult to know whether to be horrified or amused: It’s about a hapless insurance guy trapped by a murderous hillbilly family.

Fred MacMurray is fine here, but the movie has other problems than mixing torture, murder and comedy: You could see how this would work if they’d just keep pouring the absurdities on, but there’s pacing problems. The jokes just don’t land.

But you have to give it props for originality.

There’s something weird with the interlace on this DVD:

Is MPV interpreting the lines in the incorrect order or something? Switching deinterlace off made things nice, though.

Murder, He Says. George Marshall. 1945.

Popular movies in June 1945 according to IMDB:

Poster	Votes	Rating	Movie
	1407	7.8	Murder, He Says
	1468	7.5	The Naughty Nineties
	2352	7.4	Story of G.I. Joe
	1496	7.2	Wonder Man
	2229	7.1	Conflict
	464	7.1	War Comes to America
	971	7.0	Rhapsody in Blue
	4038	6.9	The Woman in Green
	477	6.9	A Bell for Adano
	208	6.8	L’espoir

This blog post is part of the Decade series.