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Reviews
The Innocents (1961)
scary - scary - the scariest
My sister took me at about ten years of age to see this as a play on Broadway, starring Beatrice Straight. I'm certain that she could not have been aware of how frightening this play would be for a ten year old. In plain words, it scared the be jabbers out of me. I was leery of being alone in a darkened apartment for years afterward. We can now jump forward a bunch of years to the winter of 1961. By this time, I was married and in the service. I was still in training , in Army Administration School at Ft Jackson, SC. since this was a Training Base, it emptied out during the Christmas Holiday, and most of us went home for the ten days between Christmas and New Years. I hadn't been able to see my new wife for six weeks, so I got myself home ASAP. WE went to several first run films, while we relaxed for the time I was home. One was THE INNOCENTS, now starring Miss Kerr and Michael Redgrave. Even though I was an adult and in the army, the story and characters had lost none of it power to still scare the be jabbers out of me. This film has been shown uncut on several cable channels and TMC and I never could bring myself to watch it again. It's still SCARY, SCARY, THE SCARIEST to me. There have only been two films in my close to eighty years that have affected me in this manner. THE INNOCENTS and HITCHCOCK'S masterwork, PSYCHO. If you do not wish the be jabbers scared out of you. stay away from these two films.
Some Like It Hot (1959)
one of the great films of all time
I must protest most strongly. Some like it Hot is one the great films of all time. It has great personal meaning to me. The story line, the direction, the settings and the whole excellent cast, my opinion of this film can be summed up in the first word that actor Joe E Brown utters. ZOWIE! The DVD version of this film is part of my DVD collection.
What then am I protesting? My hearing has completely gone south on me. Even with expensive hearing aids, I cannot watch this great Billy Wilder film and understand it. There are NO English CAPTIONS. I protest for myself and other hearing impaired viewers. The only time I can enjoy Some Like it Hot is when TCM broadcasts it with English captions
I had the same captioning problem with another classic film 12 Angry Men. Lo and Behold , I discovered an Anniversary Edition of the first film directed by Sidney Lumet on Amazon. that had the captions, I so badly need. I purchased it at once, even though I have the non captioned disc. Why oh why, can Some Like it Hot be re-released as an anniversary edition with those needed captions, so that hearing impaired views can enjoy the film any time they wish. Then I'd have no reason to protest any longer. I'd have to say ZOWIE again... and again.
The Happiest Days of Your Life (1950)
Hold your sides, English humor at its very best
There is very little I could add to the viewer remarks already posted. Suffice it to say that this film cemented my love for the understated English humor. I first saw it on TV. Channel 9 in New York during the 1950s had a movie slot called The Million Dollar Movie. It was a 90 minute format and each film shown had to fit into this time frame, which included commercial breaks. Any film is this series was cut badly to fit. Each film was shown daily, plus twice on weekends. I watched The Happiest Days almost every time it was shown and laughed anew at every showing. Later on The Million Dollar Movie also showed The Belles of St Trinians, another Alastair Sim marvel of a film about a school chock fill of nasty little girls. In 1959. I was lucky enough to find a theater which was showing a double feature of the Happiest Days and The Belles. Even through I sustained a flat tire and a parking ticket, I have always considered this trip to a movie theater, the best movie night I've ever had
Mission to Moscow (1943)
Amazing Film
I had heard about this film and recall seeing some scenes previously in some documentary on negative propaganda some time ago. It popped up on TCM. so I thought I'd watch it to see what the fuss was about, after all, one of my favorite actors, Walter Huston, "starred" in the film.
After viewing Mission to Moscow and seeing what an example of a really bad film is, I have several questions. Was this actually shown in theaters? If so, did the audience pay to see it, or were they perhaps plucked off the streets and herded into the theater, and the doors locked, so they were compelled to see this awful film.
How did they get the actors and crew to work on this "work of art". Blackmail? Why did Walter Huston, an great actor of enormous stature appear? Who knows? To sum up, after seeing this homage and paean to one of the most brutal dictators and awful political systems that was a cancer on human kind and unfortunately was around much longer that Hitler and his Nazis, I'm hard pressed to find that much difference between these two mass murder experts of the 20th century. I just wonder what should have been produced next for the screen after this sickening display, a musical tribute to warts, perhaps?
I clicked on my name and this reference popped up. I had completely forgotten that I had reviewed this 40s Fantasy, so I read my thoughts as well as other movie goers reviews of this waste of film stock. After wasting my time, I decided that if I was able to edit my original words, I would like to add this: It would only be fair if Mel Brooks could take his characters of Hustler Max and Nebbish Leo Bloom from Brooks's masterpiece "The Producers" stage another play/musical like Springtime for Hitler" about another mass murderer and all round nice guy Joseph Stalin, perhaps naming this work of art "Sing a Song of Stalin, A Pocket Full of Purges".