Random Thoughts

After a couple of cheapies, this is a proper, expensive A movie. I mean, Bogart? Bacall? Howard Hawks? Hemingway? Doesn’t get more A than that.

The movie has been beautifully restored for this bluray release.

I must have seen this movie a few times before (who hasn’t?) because some of the scenes seem awfully familiar. But I did not remember that there were this much music in the movie. You can see the filmmakers trying to make another Casablanca, complete with hit theme music and all, and they almost make it.

I don’t think these people could make a movie that wasn’t pleasurable to watch, but I did find something to be annoyed with: That old coot just gets on my tits.

But it’s just not a good movie. The plot doesn’t go anywhere and nothing much of interest happens. It all rests on the performances. They are, admittedly, wonderful, but it still needs like a script.

To Have and Have Not. Howard Hawks. 1944.

Popular movies in October 1944 according to IMDB:

Poster	Votes	Rating	Movie
	33055	8.1	Laura
	24369	8.0	To Have and Have Not
	9965	7.8	The Woman in the Window
	5201	7.2	Ministry of Fear
	327	7.2	The Very Thought of You
	1009	7.0	Mrs. Parkington
	282	6.8	An American Romance
	206	6.6	Love Story
	1733	6.6	None But the Lonely Heart
	710	6.5	The Conspirators

This blog post is part of the Decade series.

Oh, another cheapie B-movie from PRC from that box set. The previous movie, Minstrel Man, wasn’t er good, but you never know…

This one seems more promising… for one, there’s no blackface. And the lead’s a better actor.

It’s a real movie, sort of: It’s not just an excuse to string a bunch of songs together. Not just. It’s that, too, but the plot is rather fun and lively.

And very nerdy, involving many convoluted shenanigans with electronic transmission, cutting platters, and related hi-jinx.

It’s swimming in charm and nonsense. Most amiable.

Swing Hostess. Sam Newfield. 1944.

Popular movies in September 1944 according to IMDB:

Poster	Votes	Rating	Movie
	56061	8.1	Arsenic and Old Lace
	2171	7.1	Tall in the Saddle
	205	6.6	The Impatient Years
	290	6.5	Strangers in the Night
	744	6.4	The Big Noise
	510	6.3	Frenchman’s Creek
	294	6.2	Crime by Night
	242	6.2	Greenwich Village

This blog post is part of the Decade series.

This is another B movie from that DVD box set. The transfer is pretty good here — while some of these have been sourced from torrents, this looks like a straight from film to DVD transfer. Hm… it might have been done via high quality video tape… There’s some typical tape ghosting going on.

It was nominated for a couple of music-related Oscars, and the music is indeed pretty good.

There isn’t much of a story here. It’s basically just a filmed “minstrel show” (i.e., white performers in blackface) with some not-very-developed drama to pad the movie out some.

The singing’s OK, but the “minstrel” comedy bits are offensively boring. All the jokes seem to be basically “aren’t those black people stupid, eh?”

But it’s not… horribly bad? I was entertained. Perhaps the biggest problem is the lead, Benny Fields, who is as expressive as a two by four. And probably as smart.

Plenty of good supporting performances keep the movie somewhat afloat. For instance, Judy Clark is so effervescently bubbling that you have to see it to believe it.

Minstrel Man. Joseph H. Lewis. 1944.

Popular movies in August 1944 according to IMDB:

Poster	Votes	Rating	Movie
	3338	7.8	Hail the Conquering Hero
	2941	7.5	The Pearl of Death
	1597	7.5	In Society
	1048	7.0	Black Magic
	490	6.8	When Strangers Marry
	706	6.4	Casanova Brown
	366	6.4	The Doughgirls
	725	6.3	The Great Moment
	382	6.2	The Falcon in Mexico
	272	6.2	Maisie Goes to Reno

This blog post is part of the Decade series.

Yay! Douglas Sirk! Mah favourite. I was a bit in the mood for a comedy after the last movie, but whatevs.

I’m such a fan that I apparently bought two copies:

Wow. This has Edward Everett Horton in a kinda-sorta serious role. I don’t think I’ve seen that before.

I mean, it’s Anton Chekhov (it’s The Shooting Party, which you’ve probably read), so there’s a limit to how serious it can be.

Unfortunately, this DVD isn’t particularly restored. The video looks fine, but the audio is awfully hissy. I can sometimes be difficult to pick out the witty Russian repartee.

I have to say that this seems like an extremely weird movie to make in 1944. It’s a very straightforward adaptation without any wartime allusions that I can see… I mean, it’s not that all movies during this period were “relevant” or anything, but this is supremely incongruous.

And it’s just so ordinary. I would not have guessed that this was Sirk if I didn’t know. I can’t really see anything much of interest here. It’s so cookie cutter.

Chekhov’s sensibilities don’t quite line up with Sirk’s. Sirk would be on Olga’s side, but Chekhov doesn’t really allow that.

Summer Storm. Douglas Sirk. 1944.

Popular movies in July 1944 according to IMDB:

Poster	Votes	Rating	Movie
	332	7.9	Block Busters
	1816	7.4	The Seventh Cross
	1037	6.9	Wilson
	1938	6.9	The Canterville Ghost
	303	6.9	Summer Storm
	1099	6.9	Wing and a Prayer
	312	6.8	Mr. Winkle Goes to War
	281	6.3	The Hairy Ape
	878	6.2	Dragon Seed
	353	6.2	Step Lively

This blog post is part of the Decade series.

Can any powder-box really be too gay?

How odd. This DVD starts with a five minute overture (i.e., some swelling orchestral music playing while we’re shown some stills). I wonder whether this was part of the original movie theatre experience… I guess it could have been, because it’s long enough that it may have been shown with an intermission? So it’s an all night extravaganza?

It was nominated for all the Oscar awards, but only the score won.

From the initial scenes (and the score), I thought this was going to be three hours of women looking pensively out the window while waiting for their soldier husbands to come back from the war.

And there’s certainly a bit of that, but this is such a delightful surprise of a movie. It’s funny and it’s more than a bit cynical.

And that cast. Claudette Colbert, Monty Woolley (resplendent in his whiskers as always) and… Shirley Temple! (And a cast of thousands, including Agnes Moorehead and Lionel Barrymore.)

But the real star here is Hattie McDaniel. Any time she’s on the screen it’s showtime.

But I found it hard to stay interested. While there’s a lot of fun scenes, it sort of lost me around the one hour mark.

I can well imagine that this is a well-loved movie, but I don’t think there’s enough dynamics here. It’s very much steady state throughout most of the nine hours this movie goes on.

I mean, if they’d cut the middle fifteen hours, and just compressed the total thirtynine hours into a more reasonable two hours, then there’s definitely enough wonderful scenes to have carried a film.

But, like I said, I lost interest at the seventythree hour mark, and then the remaining two hundred and seventy two hours just kinda seemed a drag.

But I feel really bad about not enjoying this movie more than this, because there’s a lot to like.

Since You Went Away. John Cromwell. 1944.

Popular movies in June 1944 according to IMDB:

Poster	Votes	Rating	Movie
	281	8.0	Follow the Leader
	3421	7.6	Since You Went Away
	2231	7.2	The Mask of Dimitrios
	1259	7.1	The Way Ahead
	271	6.7	Home in Indiana
	880	6.7	Christmas Holiday
	1139	6.5	Bathing Beauty
	431	6.3	Hotel Reserve
	816	6.2	Days of Glory
	242	5.9	Meet the People

This blog post is part of the Decade series.