emjmb Reviews

William & Kate (2011 TV Movie)

What a Load of American Rubbish!

[1/10 · 1 May 2012]

Oh dear!! What a load of American Trash this TV movie is. Wooden acting, clichéd scenes, factual mistakes, American accents abound, Americanism's used all through the film, e.g at the beginning the Headmaster says "Welcome to the new semester".. "Semester" LOL! In the UK we use the word "Term"; IE, he should have said "Welcome to your new term at college". All of the young guys calling each other "Old Man" as if we are still in the Edwardian era, LOL!!!!! The producers were 100 years behind the times with that one! At one stage during an early scene of William and Kate having breakfast at college, Kate says she is reading "The Daily Mail" only to reveal some obscure magazine that does not exist in the UK?? Huh? What was that all about? Not to mention the hysterically funny fake TV "news reports" with phony clipped English accents!! How Embarrassing! I've never seen such terrible production values. The whole thing! The script, the acting, the accents! Oh, the list is endless... Please! don't bother with this American made piece of rubbish. It was created purely to cash in on the real life wedding of William and Kate.

If you are a Royalty fan then watch Helen Mirran's "The Queen" and don't waste your time with this piece of junk.

The proposal scene is hysterical!!!!! I nearly threw something at the TV screen! Wills goes down on one knee and even though they are seemingly in the middle of some kind of African safari (?) Kate is fully made up, in glamorous evening dress and hair styled to an inch of its life, and then with the sun going down in the background, and their Arabian Tent in the foreground, (completely furnished of course) he puts a ring on her finger! You have been warned, "Old Man"...

King of Jazz (1930)

Fantastic early example of 2-strip Technicolor

[21 August 2004]

"The King Of Jazz" 1930, is a wonderful example of just what the movies could do in the late 20's early 30's if they put their mind to it. The technical achievement is extremely high, for a film of this period, and one wonders at how cinema audiences of 1930 must have been amazed by this picture. It is photographed in a system called "Two Strip Technicolor". (Full 3-strip Technicolor would not be invented until 1932). The 2-strip Technicolor system managed to capture Red and Green, but not blue. To get around this they would use dyes that were a kind of orange/red and aqua-marine/green to trick audiences into thinking there was blue on screen.

In this movie the "Rhapsody in Blue" number is very convincing.

There is no plot to "The King Of Jazz", it is just one mammoth musical number after another, and that adds to its unique charm. My three favourite numbers are "Ragamuffin Romeo", "It Happened In Monterey", and "My Bridal Veil".

The "Bridal Veil" number utilizes one of the biggest indoor sets I have ever seen. A lot of money was spent on this picture, and it shows. The Bridal Veil itself looks to be about 100 feet long and the bride needs about 40 bridesmaids to help hold it up.

The print that is currently in circulation of "The King Of Jazz" is sadly not in 100% excellent condition. It seems to be made up of pristine sections of print, and battered and scratched dupes. Its a real patchwork version that is probably in need of some restoration work. The title sequence, (with vocals over the titles by Bing Crosby singing "Music Hath Charms") is very clear and in good shape, but then halfway through cuts to an extremely battered dupe copy? The same occurrence happens during the "It Happened In Monterey" number, and also "Bench In The Park", we are given a beautiful print with rich colours and rock steady picture stability, only to cut variously to scratched beaten dupes. I cannot understand why certain sections of the film were preserved but others were not.

I am eagerly awaiting the DVD release of this unique and wonderful film and hope it wont be too long before it gets its well deserved release. There don't seem to be any plans as yet and the only way to see this movie is on television or VHS. This is a true lost opportunity to DVD producers because the film has many wonderful Bing Crosby numbers in it and would be very popular with Bing's fans.