WLIR, founded in 1959, was the first FM radio station in Long Island, broadcasting mainly showtunes and jazz-pop. In the '70s, WLIR changed their format to Southern and progressive rock, but in 1982 became an underground phenomenon by being the first radio station in the country to play New Wave (mostly coming out of the UK) and post-punk music (in other words, exchanging the Allman Brothers and Blue Öyster Cult for Duran Duran and U2). Thumbing their nose at US record labels--who usually dictated to radio stations what they should be playing--the station became home to a lot of European music acts who were big in their home countries but brand new to Americans. In the days before the internet, radio "found" the new music/tomorrow's hits (for instance, WLIR broke Frankie Goes to Hollywood's "Relax" six months before the rest of the US heard it), and the gratitude from the musicians--many of whom are interviewed here--is genuine and joyous. Something different, to be sure, and very entertaining for music buffs. *** from ****
Reviews
5,487 Reviews
Baxter!
(1973)
Early scenes best, but the performances nearly sell it...
9 June 2024
Light UK drama concerns precocious young American boy named Roger Baxter, living in London with his squabbling parents, who sees a speech therapist for his impediment (he pronounces his R's as W's). His doctor later comes to his aid after Baxter's parents intend to divorce and he suffers an emotional breakdown. Reginald Rose's cheeky screenplay, adapted from Kin Platt's book "The Boy Who Could Make Himself Disappear", opens with so much fast patter that the later switch to melodrama is almost hard to swallow (particularly after Patricia Neal's doctor takes a whack at Lynn Carlin's hysterical mother, who is busy screeching at her catatonic son like a banshee). In the lead, talented Scott Jacoby seems a bit over-rehearsed here--I didn't quite buy his Wobert Wedford's--but he's a fearless child actor, his youthful excitement nicely undercut by a sarcastic incredulousness. Neal is very fine (as always) and Sally Thomsett is cute as a teenage neighbor who uses a telescope to spy on Baxter, who disrobes for her and does muscleman poses out on his balcony (such were the times). ** from ****
The Greatest Night in Pop
(2024)
"We got white people helping black people but no black people helping black people!"
9 June 2024
Engaging, revealing documentary for Netflix on the recording of 1985's #1 hit charity song "We Are the World" by USA For Africa, a response to the famine devastating Ethiopia. With 10 days to go before the American Music Awards in late January--wherein the celebrity singers would be wrangled for an after-awards all-night recording session--Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson still haven't come up with a song (Stevie Wonder was Richie's first choice as songwriting partner, but Wonder failed to return Richie's phone messages for three weeks). Richie (surprisingly frank and affable) recounts the chaos at Jackson's house with his menagerie of pets interrupting the songwriting process; also, Richie was hosting the awards show and planning a tour for his album. Producer-arranger Quincy Jones, who got Jackson involved, loved what the duo came up with, yet there's no mention the song they created sounded a bit cheesy--less its UK-counterpart "Do They Know It's Christmas?" and more "It's a Small World (After All)" (Bruce Springsteen says upon first hearing the demo that he thought it was "broad."). However, even if you are not a fan of the song--at least not after the first 100 times you heard it--this document of its gestation period and realization is quite entertaining. Many of the participants are here for interviews and, as history proved, the product was met with adulation and some $80M in famine relief. It was a night to remember, as they say...and don't forget, when you're singing with a group on risers, "Groove from your knees and not from your feet." *** from ****
The Fall Guy
(2024)
Not the playful mise en scène one hopes it'll be--just an excuse for Hollywood insiders to "poke fun at themselves"...
5 June 2024
When Hollywood filmmakers do a behind-the-scenes deal, often what we get are spoiled, trendy, too-cute adults running around like foolishly self-important children--so where's the ironic twist in a movie like "The Fall Guy"? The L. A. dolts are once again present, both in front of and behind the camera, and the condescension towards the paying audience is enough to suck the air from the room. Ostensibly a big-screen version of the '80s TV hit "The Fall Guy", this boy-girl tale in La La Land is about as far from a good ol' boy romp as you can get. Everything is hyped-up, sped up, jammed together and fast-forwarded through, maybe so we'll not pay attention to the plot. After breaking his back in an on-set accident, once-cocky movie stuntman Ryan Gosling has gone into hiding; he's now humiliating himself nightly by parking cars for rich a-holes and has left his love affair with camera operator Emily Blunt to wither on the vine. Flash ahead one year and Blunt is now directing her first movie, with absolutely no idea that her producer has lured Gosling out of retirement to do the heavy stunt work (Blunt finds this out after one stunt has already been filmed and wants Gosling fired, but she's told, "There's nobody else!"). Slick, stupid, overtly commercial action-comedy, perhaps inspired by the Brad Pitt plot in "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood...", but without Quentin Tarantino's intrinsic smarts and flashy style. Is there anything worth savoring in "The Fall Guy"? Blunt doing karaoke to Phil Collins is fun until we get a dumb cutaway to a secondary character who whispers to his date in a noisy bar, "I love this song!" NO STARS from ****
Let Them All Talk
(2020)
What did all the unemployed screenwriters in Hollywood think of this?
3 June 2024
From its title to the characters to the "story", "Let Them All Talk" is so forgettable, your mind flushes it away before the damn thing has even finished. With a handful of scenes actually scripted by Deborah Eisenberg--and a basic plot conceived by director Steven Soderbergh--Meryl Streep, Dianne Wiest and Candice Bergen are encouraged to wing it for almost 2hrs--the movie is 70% improvisational. So, what we get from these talented actresses is a lot of stammering and stuttering...the movie plays like Woody Allen on Valium. Streep is a pompous, self-absorbed Pulitzer Prize-winning author sailing to the UK on the Queen Mary 2 to accept an award; she's been granted three guest tickets by her publisher, and has invited her nephew plus two estranged girlfriends from her college days--two women whom she hasn't had much contact with in 50 years. Wiest is a down-to-earth straight-shooter while Bergen has an axe to grind; seems Streep used Bergen's life story for one of her most celebrated novels without asking her friend's permission. There are compensations here for the overall lack of drive and energy: the movie (a video-on-demand release) was actually filmed at sea, with paying guests used as extras; Streep and Bergen have one terrific scene together near the end; and Wiest has lost none of her intrinsic savvy. What was Soderbergh trying to capture here? A character portrait so raw and "real" that the actors themselves make up the movie's trajectory? ** from ****
The Hours
(2002)
Literary or cinematic conceits? Sometimes both...
2 June 2024
In 1923 England, writer Virginia Woolf is completing her novel "Mrs. Dalloway" while, in 1950s Los Angeles, a reader of that novel--a rather hapless pregnant housewife--is slowly unraveling in front of her husband and child (the latter of whom looks at her with a witness's eyes). A third story, and probably the strongest of the three, concerns a bisexual woman in New York City having difficulty pulling her emotions together to host a party for her ex, a writer, who is also bisexual and grappling with AIDS. Can a film be literate and intellectually stimulating but also uninvolving? I'm still not certain whether "The Hours", a UK-US co-production adapted from Michael Cunningham's novel, is filled with literary conceits or cinematic ones (it's nearly both when detailing the earliest activities of these women: when one lady looks into a mirror, another looks into a mirror--but not all three at the same time, that might be too much!). This trio of stories compliment each other in the most facetious ways; we're meant to stop and think, "Ah yes, I see the currents of time at work!" In the second plot, Julianne Moore becomes movie-frazzled over the baking of a birthday cake and had me grinding my teeth in exasperation (Moore's not-quite-there expression was beginning to seem like a rerun in 2002; the actress had worked through her repertoire of tender feelings and, I believe, cancelled out her own chances of winning an Oscar for "Far From Heaven"--she lost to Nicole Kidman, unrecognizable as Virginia Woolf in this picture). "The Hours" is about messy lives, but everything on-screen is clean and tidy; the tone is sedate, the arguments polite. Movies like this give good taste a bad name. *1/2 from ****
The Female
(1958)
Brigitte Bardot--tantalizing, teasing and torturing the opposite sex!
1 June 2024
Lively but stupid French-Italian co-production in French and Spanish has a wealthy gentleman in Spain possibly looking for a mistress after his wife becomes paralyzed, but getting more than he bargained for after falling madly in love with a shapely village girl who treats him indifferently. Story of a woman's power over a smitten man is an unhappy venture from start to finish. Bardot, freed from her marriage to Roger Vadim by this point, seems to be repeating herself (she dances a fiery Flamenco and gets to show off her ample figure, and that's about it). Spotty adaptation of Pierre Louÿs's novel (previously filmed in 1935 with Marlene Dietrich as "The Devil is a Woman" and reworked in 1977 as "That Obscure Object of Desire") has been left stretched and beleaguered by its four screenwriters, including director Julien Duvivier, with whom Bardot had an unhappy working relationship. * from ****
The Miracle Worker
(1979 TV Movie)
1961 remake for TV with Patty Duke Astin graduating from the role of Helen Keller to teacher Anne Sullivan
28 May 2024
One may wonder why this redo was necessary, but in 1979 we were still a few years away from videocassette rentals and Turner Classic Movies. In order to see Arthur Penn's version of "The Miracle Worker", one had to wait until a local television station picked it up for airing. That being said, this color adaptation of William Gibson's play by the author doesn't draw viewers in like the original did. The performances aren't luminous, there's nothing for us to discover for ourselves--it's too straightforward, too "television". The location of the Kellers' Southern home seems wrong, the color photography is ugly (save for the opening scene, which has a nice look), and the movie drags its feet for the first 20mns or so. The family asides with Captain Keller, his wife and son, housekeeper and newborn baby were the weakest link in Arthur Penn's original, and the characters fare no better here. Duke Astin, as well, takes some time adjusting to her role; her Irish brogue is odd, her look is disheveled and, at times, she seems to be doing an impersonation of Anne Bancroft! "Little House on the Prairie" star Melissa Gilbert initiated the project, with herself cast as a very lanky Helen Keller; she's fine, and she helps makes the finale work, but there's no real reason to watch this version when the original is now readily available. Five Emmy nominations with three wins, in what must have been a slow year. ** from ****
The Violation of Sarah McDavid
(1981 TV Movie)
Easy to see why Astin picked this script...but do we really want to see Patty Duke in this part?
27 May 2024
Warning: Spoilers
With a title that practically screams "Television Movie!", we see substitute-turned-full-time teacher Patty Duke Astin climbing the steps of the local high school on her first big day (it's just an ordinary-seeming high school, yet she exclaims to the custodian, "It's really something, isn't it?"). What Astin's Sarah McDavid doesn't know is, the school has a high crime rate--with all incidents gone unreported once the fat-cat Dean (Ned Beatty) manages to sweep every bit of scandal under the proverbial rug. This happens to Sarah too, after she's beaten and raped by an outsider during Open House (she rings her classroom's alarm several times, with no answer). Written by committee (or, in this case, Lois Peyser and Arnold Peyser from a treatment by the Peysers and Joan Maeks), nothing in "Violation" feels true. Not Sarah's hesitancy in coming forward, not her sudden shift towards "wave-maker", not the school's handling of the event, and certainly not Sarah's press conference at the finale. The Dean tells Sarah after she makes her impassioned plea for school security, "This is going to take money away from getting new textbooks!" There is no follow-up to Sarah's visit to the police station--and apparently no chance of ever catching the creep who raped her. The goal here was to get Patty Duke Astin up on a soapbox, possibly to qualify her for an Emmy nomination. But any actress could have played this part...and do we really want to see Patty Duke play it?
Undertow
(2009)
A gem!
23 May 2024
Spanish-language romantic drama with a fantasy element from writer-director Javier Fuentes-León about a married fisherman--popular in his seaside town along with his wife, who is expecting their first child--who has a secret gay lover: a local photographer/painter who is looked down upon by the gossiping villagers for being "that way". Acclaimed Colombian-Peruvian-French-German co-production won several awards upon its release. What threatens to become a romp--a role-reversal "Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands", perhaps--quickly changes gears and blossoms into something much more lasting: a gay ghost story about finality, responsibility, loyalty, and putting everything at risk in order to do what's right. Quite an amazing achievement, with beautiful photography and excellent performances. ***1/2 from ****
"Not that there's anything wrong with that."
23 May 2024
S04-E12 has competitive Rose seeking Dorothy's help in coaching pee-wee football; meanwhile, Blanche keeps getting the brush from her current beau, which leads to her meeting a new man who is...wait for it...blind. Penned by series mainstay Christopher Lloyd (but, more likely, written by committee, with a tableful of writers throwing ideas at a blackboard), this episode seems to have been created by people who've never watched the show before. There are the usual funny, acidic asides, but the characters are like strangers. Whose idea was it to turn Betty White's lovable ditz Rose into a competitive shark? I once had a co-worker who told me, "I never believed that character arc." Indeed, it seems as if they gave this to White to give her something to play, but her overzealous need to win doesn't match up right with the Rose we all know. The same can nearly be said of Blanche, who kowtows to her literal blind date after cancelling on him one night, stands aside when he meets his new lady-friend for drinks (a shapely blonde)--and even offers to treat on their next date together! Who are these Golden Girls? Sighted actor Edward Winter plays John Quinn, and he's fine but completely the wrong type for Blanche--and why doesn't he tell Blanche he's blind when they first meet? Instead, he shows up at the house and asks her, "Was there something about me you didn't notice the other night?" Blind is one thing, rude is another.
My Foolish Heart
(1949)
"Nice girl" falls for rascal at wartime...
22 May 2024
"My Foolish Heart", the only screen-adaptation of a J. D. Salinger work (in this case, his short story "Uncle Wiggly in Connecticut"), is a fluttery-eyed romantic melodrama, one that takes us into flashback mode not 15mns into the proceedings. Despite this, Susan Hayward is wonderful as a hard-drinking, unhappily-married housewife and mother who is driving her husband right out the door. She's reunited with her old college chum (who once dated Susan's current husband) and reminisces about her "nice girl" days in pre-World War II New York when she fell in love with a charming ne'er-do-well. The screenplay by Julius J. Epstein and Philip G. Epstein is above-average-smart for these type of things, and Hayward works very smoothly with Dana Andrews, giving one of his best performances. Although Salinger wasn't happy with it, the picture isn't hokey, and director Mark Robson keeps it moving at a nice pace. Two Oscar nominations, including Hayward as Best Actress and for the catchy, torchy title song composed by Victor Young and Ned Washington. *** from ****
Footprints on the Moon
(1975)
An extra twist or two might have made this one a winner...
3 May 2024
Single Portuguese woman living in Italy is cracking up: she's lost her job after sleeping for two days straight, she's having nightmares of an astronaut abandoned on the moon, there's another woman's dress in her closet (with a blood stain!), and she's found an unsigned postcard torn up in her trashcan. She decides to visit the hotel pictured on the card; it's located on a spooky island community off the coast of Turkey where everyone there appears to recognize her from the week before. Italian-Turkish co-production has a delicious set-up, but our heroine (the taut-faced Florinda Bolkan) sleepwalks through the story. The screenplay by Luigi Bazzoni (who also directed) and Mario Fanelli, adapting Fanelli's novel "Las Huellas", is satisfyingly worked out, and the mysterious locale (actually Phaselis, Turkey) is nicely captured, but these "Footprints" still fail to make a big impression. **1/2 from ****
Mr. Destiny
(1990)
Stories of magic and miracles happening to everyday folks never go out of fashion, but movies like "Mr. Destiny" may make you wish they would...
2 May 2024
Quasi-rewrite of "It's a Wonderful Life" has sad sack James Belushi wondering what his life would be like if only he had smacked that baseball in the final inning of the high school championship game 20 years ago instead of striking out (the film is so puny in its vision, we only see the boy swing and miss once). Magical barkeep Michael Caine gives Belushi the opportunity to see what might have been, and suddenly Jim is the president of the company where he works, his real supervisor is now his underling (with plans to get him fired), and the boss's sexy spouse is now his wife (but so loyal, she cries when she sees him out to dinner with another woman). This may have been an interesting set-up if only screenwriters James Orr (who also directed, feebly) and Jim Cruickshank weren't aiming for that lump-in-your-throat happy ending. Imagine the possibilities if Belushi enjoyed his newfound wealth and power--and reveling in being a tough sonuvabitch. Instead, Orr and Cruickshank believe that old adage that money doesn't buy happiness--and once we're rich, all we long for is our salad days. Hogwash. * from ****
A Degree of Murder
(1967)
"But when you're young you do a lot of things you're not supposed to do."
29 April 2024
Excellent drama from West Germany (in German with subtitles) stars Anita Pallenberg as a waitress who has just accidentally shot her ex-boyfriend dead after a semi-playful scuffle in her apartment. The two had a volatile relationship, but she's still understandably upset--though not enough to call the police and turn herself in. Instead, she walks down to the local pub and finds a man there who needs money; hiring him to help her dispose of the boyfriend's body, she finds herself attracted to him--and also to his friend when they need help moving the body downstairs. Scored with a cacophony of "mod" sounds by Brian Jones of The Rolling Stones (who was dating Pallenberg at the time), "Mord und Totschlag" (which translates as "Murder and Homicide") is a fascinating study of how women control men. Our heroine, reckless or childlike one minute and controlling with her feminine wiles the next, is perfectly embodied by Pallenberg who, between a sad smile and a knowing look, is compulsively watchable. Director Volker Schlöndorff was a nominee for the Palme d'Or at Cannes. *** from ****
Aside from the TV-movies, arguably the best representation of the series
25 April 2024
Episode 11 of the one-season mystery series has an interesting plot, good performances and a scary monster--finally! When a Hindu restaurant opens in a rundown section of Chicago with a predominantly Jewish community, the residents all assume the East Indian owner is a Nazi because of the swastika-like symbols he's painted on the back portion of the building facing the alley. Reporter Carl Kolchak discovers these are not actually swastikas but an East Indian symbol meant to keep evil spirits away...but they're not working, as an ancient, shape-shifting creature called the Rakshasa haunts the premises. Rakshasas feast on human flesh, and lure their prey in by entering the human mind and taking on the personage of someone they trust. Director Michael Caffey does an excellent job showing us how the Rakshasa operates, and the attacks are unsympathetic and intense. Caffey and writer Jimmy Sangster are quick to add in some humor--what with Barry Gordon, of all actors, working as a waiter in the Hindu restaurant--and they also allow Darren McGavin's Kolchak to do his job without a lot of interference. Aside from the two made-for-TV movies that served as series pilots, this episode is the best representation of "The Night Stalker".
Is it déjà vu or...something worse?
13 April 2024
S02-E07 gives us a creepy pair of stories, but with a distinct problem: the first tale is too brief to really catch fire and the second is hurt by overlength. The opener, "Midnight Never Ends", written by series host Rod Serling, has Susan Strasberg picking up hitchhiking Marine Robert E. Lyons on a lonesome highway--a scenario both know well. Is this a case of déjà vu or is something else going on? "Midnight" is an intriguing piece that begs to be expanded upon; Serling cuts too quickly to the reveal, which director Jeannot Szwarc delivers matter-of-factly. "Brenda", written by Douglas Heyes from Margaret St. Clair's short story, has a dynamic set-up which is unfortunately tempered by too much detail. Laurie Prang is a trouble-causing youngster on an island vacation spot who befriends a boggy monster in the woods. Director Allen Reisner isn't very talented with his actors (everyone is hyped up for no particular purpose), although he delivers a boldly serious finale which, while not scary, is certainly admirable.
Secrets
(1971)
Non-erotic "erotic drama" about marriage hasn't enough on its mind...
10 April 2024
Chatty piece from UK's Satori Films begins with housewife Jacqueline Bisset taking her young daughter to the laundry to do a load of clothes (hardly the type of scene to start off what was advertised as an erotic drama!). After sitting for awhile, Bisset goes out for a walk and is picked up in the park by a widower-businessman who thinks she looks like his late wife. Meanwhile, the daughter leaves the laundromat with a grown man who shows her his garden (and kisses her), and Bisset's husband takes an aptitude test for a computer programming job and strikes up a relationship with the moderator. Screenwriter Rosemary Davies, working from a treatment by the film's director, Philip Saville, is interested mainly in probing the questioning minds of her characters; however, her dialogue is so vacant and vague that, by the finale, nothing significant has been gained by the experiences of the day--and nothing is learned. The underwhelming "Secrets" finally made it to the US in 1978 via low-rent Lone Star Films, who managed to get on Bisset's bad side by marketing the picture as an R-rated heavy-breather. The actress's nudity is fairly brief--and the love scene nonexploitative--which surely caused some dissension among moviegoers. * from ****
Coming Up Roses
(2011)
No more happy endings...
9 April 2024
Independently-produced drama starring Bernadette Peters as the unstable, unemployable mother of a teenage daughter; she's a former stage actress reduced to living in a rundown building, still hoping the ex-husband who walked out on her six years ago will return. Peter Friedman is the city worker who takes a liking to both ladies; he's set up as the proverbial prince with a sad heart, but there's a twist to his character that only serves to make us really uncomfortable. Rachel Brosnahan is fine as 15-year-old Alice, although she looks and talks like a much older girl; her friendship with a neighborhood troublemaker and her job as a drug-runner are both narrative dead-ends. As for Peters, she's professional and adept, as always; she elevates this shopworn material, updated with rougher language and constant police sirens. Screenwriters Lisa Albright (who also directed) and Christina Lazaridi have seen a lot of movies; they know the drill, yet they haven't developed this material enough to make it embraceable. Most audiences would cross the street to avoid these people. * from ****
Don't Cry, It's Only Thunder
(1982)
It may have some appeal for softies with a predisposition for such stories...
8 April 2024
At a Saigon Air Base in 1967, an unorthodox young medic (Dennis Christopher), who sells morphine and military supplies on the black market, is reprimanded and eventually demoted to the mortuary; a no-nonsense female doctor (Susan Saint James) takes a liking to him and sweetly blackmails him into delivering rations to a gaggle of Vietnamese children living with the nuns in a bombed-out orphanage. US-Japan co-production from The Sam Goldwyn Company was a tough sell in 1982, except possibly to leftover fans of "The Inn of the Sixth Happiness". The kids are certainly cute learning math and splashing together in the wash bins, but when a jealous child accuses the medic of having more than a brotherly interest in a mute 12-year-old girl, the narrative suddenly takes an unpleasant turn (there's nothing improper going on, but the implication hangs like a black cloud). Paul G. Hensler's screenplay, "suggested by a true story" (which likely means most of it is fictionalized), has some humor, but mostly a lot of phony melodrama--it's TV on the big screen. James Whitmore Jr. Comes on too strong as Christopher's superior (he doesn't seem to have any priorities except persecuting this kid), and Christopher is too brash and movie-cagey for us to gain much respect for him. Saint James gives the film's best performance; she looks great and is completely convincing as a doctor, although her Katherine seems an unlikely romantic partner for Christopher's cut-up. The film isn't well-produced or well-directed (by Peter Werner, who has not one iota of visual style); but, for the knick-knack-paddy-whack crowd, it may have some appeal. *1/2 from ****
Fade to Black
(1980)
I'd rather watch the films on the posters and theater marquees...
8 April 2024
Loner kid in Los Angeles, living in a movie dream-world in a house with his wheelchair-bound aunt (who has a lascivious tone in her voice when she's not harping on him), eliminates his enemies in classic movie fashion. I'm willing to cut "Fade to Black" some slack: a lot of film-buffs seem to admire the picture--and the movie posters and theater marquees are fun to see--but it's a rancid little thriller that loses steam as it continues (it does its own "Fade"). Dennis Christopher was probably well-cast, yet he's made to be so nutty that he's even more remote from us than, say, Michael J. Pollard or Bud Cort. The role requires a lot of hamming, but Christopher doesn't have the innate style needed to connect with the black-and-white world his character lives in (at one point, his aunt deliberately knocks over his movie projector, but he cares more about getting rid of her than saving that machine!). Writer-director Vernon Zimmerman had the germ of a good idea; he's helped by colorfully seedy locations, but there's little modulation between scenes--nearly everyone in the film is on the verge of a mental breakdown. Peter Horton and Mickey Rourke turn up in small parts, and newcomer Linda Kerridge does an OK imitation of Marilyn Monroe, but much of the rest is wretched. * from ****
Parasite
(2019)
Aptly-titled Oscar darling from South Korea
7 April 2024
The four members of a poverty-stricken brood slyly infiltrate the household of a wealthy communications specialist and his family under the guise of a skilled tutor (the son), an art specialist (the daughter), a driver (the father) and a housekeeper (the mother). The plan appears to be working brilliantly until the former housekeeper returns and reveals an underground bunker off the basement in which she's been hiding her husband, on the run from loan sharks. For the better part of an hour, director and co-writer Bong Joon Ho keeps this crafty tale of lies and deceit bubbling along--the have-nots taking full advantage of the trusting, naïve (and "simple") haves--with the gleefulness of their operation underlined by an encroaching insidiousness. One might expect the ruse to be exposed in some grandiose way, but Bong is actually more ambitious than that (in most instances, an enviable trait); however, the tangled plot goes off-the-rails at a certain point in the picture's second-half, leading to a ridiculous "ironic" chain of events. It's certainly well-made and acted, with beautiful cinematography by Hong Kyung-pyo and a pensive score from Jung Jae-il. ** from ****
Three for the Show
(1955)
Betty Grable working for Columbia in her last year of making movies: results tolerable if lacking in zest...
4 April 2024
Musical version of 1940's "Too Many Husbands", via W. Somerset Maugham's play "Home and Beauty" (which the author said he wrote as a lark), has widowed--and remarried--Broadway star in a marital quandary: her first husband's death overseas was misreported by the US Air Force (he was actually marooned on an island), and now she has two husbands...and both marriages legal! Betty Grable toys with the possibilities--she even fantasizes a musical number with dozens of suitors housed in cages, climaxing with she and her two husbands under the sheets smoking a hookah! But, this being 1955, we instead have Betty ordering both her husbands out of her boudoir come bedtime. The plot predicament, not surprisingly, doesn't come to much, but in the interim we have some bright moments, not the least of which is Grable's Marilyn Monroe-like delivery in the final number, "How Come You Do Me Like You Do" (which sounds a lot like MM's "Lazy" with a design resembling her "Heat Wave"). Director H. C. Potter opens the picture with a berserk pantomime number danced to "Someone To Watch Over Me" (in harlequin costumes!), but he gets good performances from both Grable and Jack Lemmon (who also sings a little and dances a bit). As the second couple, Marge and Gower Champion dance nicely together but don't have much pizzazz, much like the rest of "Three For the Show". A pleasant marquee-filler but hardly a headliner. **1/2 from ****
Until It's Time For You to Go...
31 March 2024
S01-E07 has Mac reuniting with an old flame, singer Lee Richards (Barbara McNair); she's in trouble when her estranged husband disappears just after a recording surfaces of the couple having an argument, ending with a gun shot and the sound of a body being dragged. Sally (a pregnant Susan Saint James) is bedbound, but she's quite wonderful here bristling at Mac's involvement with an ex-girlfriend, while the interracial detail is commendably never brought up (Rock Hudson and McNair even share a chaste kiss). One of the better early episodes, although when Mac puts the pieces of the mystery together, the details take a few minutes to sink in (something about a book of matches in the trash and frozen food that was thawed and then re-frozen!). The police commissioner never does find the body of the missing man (how well did the killer hide it?), but the interactions between the principals is well-accomplished. Writer Brad Radnitz ably rewrote a 1968 episode of his from "Ironside", titled "An Obvious Case of Guilt". Good show.
Child of Manhattan
(1933)
"You've had champagne before?" .. "Once--at a wake."
31 March 2024
John Boles is quite charming as Paul Vanderkill of Manhattan, "one of the richest men in the world", whom nobody seems to recognize (he must be one up on Howard Hughes). While investigating a nightclub on the family property--reputed to be full of "nekked girls"--he discovers it's a respectable joint, a dime-a-dance ballroom, where he falls for Nancy Carroll as an Irish firecracker who thinks he's pulling her leg. Otherwise smart and savvy romantic comedy-drama from Columbia Pictures nevertheless goes awfully heavy on Irish, Hispanic and Yiddish stereotypes (plus a gay dress designer!). Adapted from the Broadway play by Preston Sturges, screenwriters Gertrude Purcell and Maurine Dallas Watkins come up with the oddest shopgirl fantasy: salty, unrefined woman chances upon a lovestruck millionaire--although one who doesn't particularly want marriage (he thinks his dancer should marry a hard-working young fellow, yet he also wants to have her for his own). Boles is a lot younger than he's meant to be, but his attractiveness is just right for the part (one can imagine theatergoers swooning in their seats in 1933!). The picture is rather surprisingly fresh in its depiction of mores and morals, and we get to spend enough quality time with the leads so that they're union is an embraceable one. Not bad; look fast for a young Betty Grable as Lucy. **1/2 from ****
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