Dick-42 Reviews

The Notebook (2004)

An Ordinary Story of Young Love, and a Heartbreaking Story of Mature Love

[9/10 · 13 October 2005]

Other reviewers have been fascinated by a fairly standard Hollywood story of a youthful courtship. It's good (I'd say a 7 on the scale of 10), but not the real story of the movie.

An elderly man (whom I can relate to because I'm writing this on my 81st birthday) has an interest in a co-resident of his nursing home, an old woman who seems "out of it," but who responds somewhat to the story he reads to her each day -- of the young lovers. (That story, of course, is told in flashbacks, and constitutes maybe 90 percent of the movie. I can relate to it, too, because the lovers are just about the ages of my wife, of 60 years, and me.) However, a second story also develops between the contemporary elderly people, that to me is the heart of the movie. My wife called it a tear jerker. I agreed, though I hadn't shed any tears. Nevertheless, unlike most movies that are forgettable, this one remains vivid, and doesn't lose its punch with time. When I thought about it the next day, I was, indeed, moved emotionally. It's a beautiful story, and if you don't get it, I'm sorry. You need to be alert to catch the point -- or "punch line" -- as the "Notebook" is shown in a close-up near the end.

A beautiful, and marvelous movie! It loses just a point in the ratings because of unnecessary, though implied, sex -- not characteristic of movies of the 40s. (The CODE, you know.)

Holiday Greetings 1941 (1941)

A strange patriotic piece for 1941

[7/10 · 8 August 2005]

This little greeting from Lewis Stone, speaking for the entire movie industry was obviously intended for release in Christmas week of 1941, say about December 15 to 22. It starts with a view of Stone addressing the theater audience from behind a desk, cuts to stock footage of military maneuvers, probably from the mid-30s, and salutes these guardians of our liberty who will be far from home on Christmas. Given movie distribution schedules, it was probably made during the peaceful Summer or Fall of 1941.

Unfortunately, the world, at least as viewed from the United States, changed completely on December 7, 1941! Thousands of these noble Guardians of Liberty died on Pearl Harbor Day -- the Day of Infamy! The rest were either fighting for their lives on various Pacific islands, or were rushing to the aid of their brothers. By Christmas, we at home didn't know the full extent of our own families' and friends' losses, but the news was not encouraging.

A Christmas greeting from the film industry might have been appropriate, but this sweet little piece would not have been it. I wonder if it was released.

Scaramouche (1923)

Excellent Adaptation of Sabatini's Great Novel

[10/10 · 24 May 2005]

This 1923 adaptation of a mid-1921 novel is one of the most faithful-to-the-original screenplays I have ever seen. Granted, large blocks of the book are omitted or greatly condensed, but who wants a 20-hour movie? The basic story line is retained and well developed.

The cinematography is superb, and the print we saw on cable was sharp and clear. It shows there is no excuse for the foggy, low-contrast prints we see in so many of the early thirties films. The sets, costumes, performances, and overall production are outstanding for any era. The silent film has been provided with a fine score, and even with its limitations is infinitely superior to the 1952 so-called "remake," which is virtually no relation to the book.

The two-hour-plus production moves along briskly (with perhaps a few too many minutes of the final mob scenes) and is exciting. Suspense is maintained very well, though my wife anticipated the ending. It was hard to keep my previous knowledge of the plot to myself.

I loved this production and give it an enthusiastic and unqualified 10.

Eyes of Texas (1948)

Wildly illogical, even for a Western

[1/10 · 3 November 2004]

A movie, obviously intended for the 10-year-olds at the kids' matinees, that looks as though it was written by a 10-year-old. (I guess there were still kids' matinees in 1948. I hadn't been to one in about 11 years.)

The film depicts post-WW-II Texas (from the title, not from anything within the movie itself) in 1947 as the same as in the 1870's, with everyone wearing cowboy suits - popular with 10-year-olds - riding around on horses or buckboards, wearing guns, and engaging in shootouts on the streets, with no official accounting for the bodies. The estate settlement is inexplicably turned over to 'the insurance company', and although all the money has officially been stolen by the fake will, the crooks appeal to the townsfolk to throw the bad Government man out and 'save the children'! (How a petition from the people will accomplish this isn't clear.) In the end, all the crooks, who are the only ones who know of and can testify to the facts in the conspiracy, are dead, and the 'happy ending' leaves all the legal entanglements up in the air.

If they had thrown out the wooden-sided Ford station wagon and the telephone, made the boys Civil War orphans, and assigned the estate settlement to a court instead of the insurance company, the film would almost pass for logical by Western flick standards.

The only things close to a redeeming value in this picture are a couple of pretty good songs by the Sons of the Pioneers.

The only reason this turkey doesn't make my list of 'The Ten Worst Films of All Time' (which currently contains about 35 titles) is that as a Cowboy flick, it isn't expected to be good.

Cheaper by the Dozen (2003)

The worst movie I ever didn't walk out on

[1/10 · 9 January 2004]

I guess I'm too old for this brand of violent nonsense. It's no wonder that 13 days after its Christmas Day release, my wife, our grandson, and I were 3 of only 4 people in the theater for an afternoon showing. (I suspect that the other person was an employee of the theater complex, relaxing or goofing off between sweeping assignments. He left 20 minutes before the end.) The only reason I stayed was that our young adult grandson seemed to be enjoying the picture.

I didn't expect Steve Martin to be Clifton Webb, but the gang of selfish brats these people perpetrated on the world are beyond comprehension. Aside from an understandable reluctance to move to a new environment, their mean-spirited attempts to sabotage their parents' careers are so revolting that I could barely stomach them. I was embarrassed to find myself laughing at the 3 or 4 truly funny incidents, when all the rest was so wretched.

Among the interminable string of commercials and promos that preceded the feature was a bit designed to discourage digital bootlegging of movie and music files. This well-done little production packed more interest and entertainment into about 90 seconds than the feature managed in 98 minutes.

I wish there were a Users' Rating below 1. I hate to have even that small number added into the overall average for such a turkey.

Needless to say, we don't see many theater movies anymore. This will probably do it for us for this year. Thank Heaven for TCM.

Freddie Rich and His Orchestra (1938)

A Great Little Musical

[10/10 · 27 November 2002]

An unusually good Big Band short that gets a couple of extra points for Joe Sodja's fantastic guitar -- a solid 10 in my book.

Nan Wynn is adequate as a Big Band girl vocalist, and the Three Symphonettes are what we used to call sol-LID! -- entertaining and with the precision of a block of polished steel. {There was a good deal of that around in those prehistoric days of my high school time.)

A very entertaining entry in the galaxy of '30s and '40s musical shorts.

Elmer, the Great (1933)

Say it ain't so, Joe!

[1/10 · 29 July 2002]

I'm quite sure I didn't see this movie when it was first released. A pity. I might have enjoyed it when I was 9 years old. Joe E. Brown was one of my favorites.

Now I wonder how he could do such a thing to me. Such an embarrassment! I didn't find a laugh in the whole thing, even if the script hadn't depicted one stupid situation after another -- far beyond the realm of fantasy. Naive is one thing; idiotic is quite another.

I think Joe owes me -- his public -- an apology.

The Great American Broadcast (1941)

Interesting Pseudo History with a Too Familiar Dumb Plot

[8/10 · 27 October 2001]

Few middle-aged people now even remember the waning days of big time network radio, much less its prime time from the late 1920s to the mid 50s. When I first became aware of radio, about 1930, the networks had been operating for some time. Nothing in this movie would tell me how long. The signals were, indeed, carried over telephone lines. In fact, by the late 30s, at least, telephone cables consisting of thousands of wires in a lead sheath carried larger gauge wires in the center to provide a cleaner signal for radio transmission. Broadcasts originated mostly in New York, with quite a few from California, some from Chicago, and a few from other places around the country -- like Nashville. If it was necessary to switch the feed from, say, New York to Hollywood for a special interview, it took about 5 seconds for the phone lines to be reconnected in the opposite direction. It was a fun time, that this movie pretends to have invented. When it originated, the people -- broadcasters and listeners -- must have been fully as excited about it as the movie depicts.

The plot of the story is one we've seen in at least a dozen films: boy steals friend's girl; friend and girl succeed big in some enterprise, boy, left out, becomes jealous and disappears; boy turns up just in time to observe girl's ultimate triumph. The enterprise may be a business, a farm, or a mine, but more commonly it's an act or dramatic career. The story is always stupid, and this film is no exception.

Still, the music featuring Alice Faye, a couple of numbers by the Ink Spots, the hilarious Wiere Brothers, and the incomparable Nicholas Brothers, and even John Payne in one of his early singing roles, makes for eminently watchable entertainment, with the bit of questionable broadcast history thrown in for good measure. Despite the too familiar plot, it's far better than the average musical of the 30s through 50s. I loved it enough to save the recording I made off the cable 15 years ago, and liked it just as much when I dug up the tape this week.

A Fugitive from Justice (1940)

A trivial crime story

[4/10 · 23 May 2001]

Standard trivial crime flick -- no better or worse than most. Eddie Foy, Jr. as Ziggy, the comic-relief sidekick, is so incredibly stupid as to detract even from a film that has no particular merits to begin with. The movie's main merit is that it's over in 53 minutes.

Little Orphan Annie (1932)

A Good Show

[7/10 · 30 March 2001]

I saw this movie at the kids' matinee at Peoples Theater in Dayton, Ohio, U.S.A., probably early in 1933. (Since it was released in November of 1932, it wouldn't have got to our neighborhood house before '33.) I thought it was great. Of course, at the age of 8, I thought everything was great. I didn't even mind sitting through this to get to the cowboy movie on the other end of the double feature -- the real reason for going to the "show," as we said in those days.

As I recall, the movie depicted the early history of Little Orphan Annie, from her days as a mistreated child in an orphanage to her being taken in by Daddy Warbucks. The comic strip had been running for several years by then, but at my age I was not familiar with the start of it.

It was a kids' movie, pure and simple (or as close as Hollywood ever got to a movie for children), and we identified with the kids getting the best of the mean adults -- or any adults at all.

The Monkey's Paw (1933)

A very scary movie, and not just because I was only 9 when I saw it!

[9/10 · 30 December 2000]

I remember this movie from seeing it on a kids' matinée at Peoples, a neighborhood theater in Dayton, Ohio, in 1933 or '34, when I was 9 years old. It was so scary that the memory has stuck with me for some 71 years.

I could not summarize the plot in any great detail; nor would I want to, since it would be a forbidden spoiler in case the film should ever turn up on the cable or elsewhere.

The story is set in a small European village -- in Transylvania, or some such place. It seems that it was always raining, with lightning and thunder, and people coming in wet and cold, and that most of the action took place at night -- a real film noir!

Mr. and Mrs. White somehow acquired a mummified hand or paw of a small monkey, perhaps from a stranger who came in from the cold. The paw was said to have magical or supernatural powers, endowing the owners with the privilege of making THREE wishes. (It's always three, isn't it?)

After a little discussion, Mrs. White convinced her husband to wish for a great deal of money, since the Whites were of modest means. White nervously held the paw in his hand and spoke the wish for money. At that instant, naturally, there was a blinding flash of lightning close by with an immediate crash of thunder! The dead hand of the monkey contracted into a fist momentarily, then returned to its curved-fingers relaxed position. I saw this clearly on the screen, but I'm not sure the characters in the movie saw it. In any case, nothing happened, and the Whites, and the others who were in the house laughed it off.

In a day or so, however, the Whites received word that they were to receive a large sum of money from an insurance settlement. That was the good news. The trouble was the event that caused the big payoff ... . You didn't think they'd get money for free, did you?

Well, as it turned out -- and as you'd no doubt guess -- the other two wishes were used up in a desperate attempt to recover from the disaster produced by the first. It was all tied up with ghostly illusions and thunder and lightning and rain and floods, and all kinds of troubles that scared the socks off the kids in the movie house. At least it did me.

After all these years, I have a very warm feeling about this movie. I believe it was a first rate horror film, though definitely a low budget, "B-movie" filler to kill time before they showed the cowboy movie that we had really paid our dime to see. I feel that my recollections of it are vivid enough and accurate enough to justify my entering a favorable vote for it in the Data Base. I wish a print of it were available somewhere so the cable people could show it to us.

The Yeomen of the Guard (1982 TV Movie)

An unusual Gilbert and Sullivan

[9/10 · 30 September 2000]

Do you ever wonder how long videotapes will last? I recorded this from Public Broadcasting (PBS) over 16 years ago, and have no record that I've watched the tape since. It ran almost perfectly. The Closed Captions - essential for G&S productions - were a bit garbled, but that might not be the fault of the tape.

Anyone expecting a typical Gilbert and Sullivan comic operetta is likely to be disappointed or even offended by "Yeomen." It's much more in the Grand Opera tradition, except that the Prima Donna survives. It's pretty much a disaster for some of the other principals, however.

This production is part of the "Compleat Gilbert and Sullivan" made-for-video series of 1982 and thereabouts, made in the UK and distributed in the U.S. through PBS by WGBH-Boston.

This "Yeomen" is very well done and aside from the fact that it's not a "happy-ending" story in some respects, is, in its way, very entertaining. It's well worth seeing, if you can find it.

If I Forget You (1940)

A strange little tribute for a man who deserved better.

[8/10 · 20 July 2000]

I found this drippy song interesting and somewhat moving only because I was a BIG fan of Will Rogers in the 1930's. A BIG fan, that is, for a little kid -- 10 years old when he died. (I went with a friend to hawk an "EX-TREE!!" edition of the local newspaper announcing the 1935 plane crash in Alaska, in which Rogers and Wiley Post -- another hero of mine -- died.)

In this mini-short -- only 3 minutes -- Judy sings the title song to a miniature statue of Rogers on horseback. Nothing happens; she just sits there looking dewy-eyed and runs through the song -- THE END.

One of the strange things about this bit of film is that it took MGM 5 years to come out with it. I've always (for the last 2 or 3 years, since this bit has been turning up on the cable) suspected that it's an excerpt from a longer production, maybe a one- or two-reeler. I have no evidence to support this, however.

It's worth watching if you're a fan or a history buff.

Three on a Couch (1966)

Hilarious. but you may hate it!

[9/10 · 15 July 2000]

Inane, but not as much so as you expect from Lewis. Jerry even plays a reasonably intelligent and talented character in this one. Absolutely hilarious in many spots, even when gags are being milked. You miss stuff you can't see through the tears! A wonderful movie -- perhaps Jerry's very best!

The Case Against the 20% Federal Admissions Tax on Motion Picture Theatres (1953)

A film prepared for presentation as testimony before a Congressional committee.

[8/10 · 16 June 2000]

Early in 1953, the "art theater" in the north end of Columbus, Ohio, as movie houses specializing in British and other import films were known at the time, announced that it would no longer charge admission, thus avoiding payment of the admissions tax. They hoped to attract enough customers to keep them in business on sales of popcorn and sodas. I don't know how this worked out because my family moved from Columbus before we had an opportunity to try out the new plan.

The movie is deliciously amateurish in its presentation, all the "witnesses" being theater operators or local business people affected by theater closings, not actors. Even the principal narrator is a representative of an exhibitors' trade association.

The statistics are shocking, but gloss over the effects of the infant television industry -- which is mentioned without much emphasis -- and other social changes occurring in the nation at the time, blaming all the problems on the abominable tax.

It's a really well done little propaganda piece, and especially interesting in the present era of the huge multi-screen movie complexes that have sprung up in shopping malls and as free-standing installations in the last 30 years or so. Virtually all the neighborhood houses and a large portion of the downtown theaters are gone, but we now have more "screens" than ever. (And less that's worth watching -- but that's another subject.)

Prince of Players (1955)

A moving, exciting film.

[10/10 · 15 February 2000]

I wrote the following in my film viewing log after seeing this movie on cable on February 21, 1990 -- almost exactly ten years ago. I have no reason not to stand behind it:

A moving and exciting film, maybe more interesting for the Shakespearian excerpts than for the "modern" (1850s) story, which is "Hollywood history." It's a good story, anyway.

I was, perhaps, in the mood for this picture, but when it ended, I felt strongly that **** [on Maltin's scale, 10 on IMDb] did not do it justice. I'd be hard pressed to defend a TEN BEST rating, but I loved it.

[Back to February, 2000]: "TEN BEST" refers to my personal list which now contains about 35 titles, not more than one or two of which would appear on anybody else's list. I think two are in IMDb's "Top 100," along with one from my TEN WORST list.

Artie Shaw and His Orchestra (1939)

An entertaining musical short

[8/10 · 7 January 2000]

This is one of a multitude of cheapie shorts produced by Warners and other studios in the 1930s and 40s, featuring simple bandstand shots of 15 to 20 piece "swing" bands -- now called "big bands" -- playing 3 to 5 of their standard repertoire numbers. The productions were generally unimaginative, and might now be considered boring if you're unfamiliar with or dislike the music and bands of that era.

As a second-rate, classically oriented high school, college, and military band clarinettist and saxophonist in the 1938-46 era, I disdained the swing band music, though I did play some of it. I'm now a fan of swing and jazz, perhaps from the contrast with all the popular music trends that have followed. In particular, I hated Artie Shaw, no doubt from having seen this or other appearances in shorts and feature movies. Now I recognize that he was a fine performer, in spite of lifting his fingers ridiculously high and having his ligature upside down -- facts that I would not have learned from hearing his records on juke boxes. (Ligature: the clamping strap device that holds the reed on a clarinet or sax.)

This is an interesting and entertaining little movie. I love it -- now.

Miracle in Harlem (1948)

A plot no worse than the average musical.

[7/10 · 29 October 1999]

This is a musical murder mystery. The plot, like most musicals, tends to get in the way of the music at times, but it's really not bad. The mean corporate baron swindles the sweet, honest but naive young woman out of her candy business, and she is blamed when he meets an untimely end. Besides the big industrial boss, we've got a dedicated secretary, a loyal henchman, a no count son, an upright boyfriend, a sickly grandmother, an understanding pastor, and an assortment of cops who jump to conclusions, underhanded characters who lurk about, and girls who entice. And there's Stepin Fetchit playing -- Stepin Fetchit! Sometimes, as here, he was genuinely funny, despite playing a character who was an insult to the HUMAN race. In short, there are all the elements of a standard murder mystery drama, which is what the film is, essentially.

But this is also a musical with numbers ranging from rather rough, but realistic, congregational hymn singing, to hot jazz. The 'pop' type numbers are first rate, and the 'Watch Out!' number by the Lynn Proctor Trio is worth far more that the price of admission, which was probably about two bits or less at the time and places of this film's release.

This is one of the best of the genre of 'Race Movies,' which were made on shoestring budgets in the 1920's and 30's by Black production companies with all-Black casts, for showing in Black neighborhood movie houses.

This is a fine film, though not lavish. It's interesting for its genre, but entertaining in its own right. I recommend it without reservation.

The Princess and the Pirate (1944)

A comic delight, perhaps Hope's best.

[8/10 · 8 June 1999]

Hokey parody of swashbucklers, Hope, Crosby, movies, and everything else. Terrible story, ludicrous development, mediocre supporting cast - but great gags, funny and entertaining. It comes off as a fine film, even before "a bit player from Paramount" steals the final scene. I first saw this in 1945, and have seen it four times since, and it retains its comic charm beautifully.

The Masque of the Red Death (1964)

A disappointingly awful takeoff from a Poe classic.

[1/10 · 23 May 1999]

As usual, Hollywood has to write an extended screenplay to set up an excuse for a Poe yarn. We've come to expect this, but this one is exceptionally terrible, pursuing the prince's Devil worship right down to the bitter end. If they had just incorporated Poe's chilling tale as the final 7 minutes of the picture, the rest might be forgiven, but such could not be. Too bad.

Sing Me a Love Song (1936)

As good as I remembered from 1937.

[9/10 · 10 May 1999]

I've been searching for this film ever since I started my personal film log about 16 years ago with the advent of the VCR and Cable. I saw it in a neighborhood theater in 1936 or '37 in Ohio or Missouri. Though I had forgotten all the story elements and principals, I distinctly remembered the character of Hammerschlogg the klepto -- Hugh Herbert, who I thought at the time must be the funniest man in the movies.

Herbert is still highly amusing, but on my recent rediscovery of the picture on cable, I was much more impressed by the magnificently effortless soaring tenor of James Melton. He had several great songs in this film, but his "Your Eyes Have Told Me So" left me with goose bumps!

The inane story line is no worse than the average musical, and the music and comedy elements more than make up for it. A very entertaining movie that I can recommend without reservation.

Shoe Shine Boy (1943)

A great musical short.

[9/10 · 26 April 1999]

The inane story is no worse than typical for a musical -- better than many: unknown kid wanders in off the street trying to earn a few bucks to buy a horn at a pawnshop, borrows a trumpet from a bandman and astounds everyone with a marvelous blues jazz number. The music would be worth the price of admission for a full feature film. You can even forgive the sticky flag-waving finale. (We tolerated, if not applauded, those things in 1942, but even those of us who lived through the era can recognize it as overdone now.}

The Old Mill Pond (1936)

Appallingly insulting caricatures of black performers of the '30s.

[1/10 · 28 March 1999]

Add to the list of caricatures: a Southern preacher and "congregation," a torch singer (Sophie Tucker?), a dancing chorus, and The Mills Brothers -- it only makes it worse.

Contemptible burlesques of "Negro" performers, who themselves often appear in films to be parodying themselves and their race. Though the "Negro comedy" may have been accepted in its day, it's extremely offensive today, and I doubt that it was ever funny. Though I wouldn't have been offended, I don't think that I'd have laughed at the feeble attempts at humor. As an 11-year-old white boy, however, I might not have understood some of it.

The Nanny (1965)

A revolting but fascinating noir.

[8/10 · 10 March 1999]

This is obviously not Mary Poppins from the very start. Nanny is so sticky sweet that you suspect something's wrong. On the other hand, she may just be that nice. Joey, who's coming home after being away for a couple of years, is revealed to be either an insufferable brat, or a terribly disturbed and frightened boy of 11 or so. Joey, who despises and harasses all middle-aged women, says Nanny is trying to kill him. Sweet Nanny is afraid someone may believe the child's irrational ravings. Mother Virgie, herself on the verge of total mental collapse, can't cope. Father Bill is too busy with business and travel, and too much the authoritarian parent to concern himself. Even the supporting characters are flakey: frail Aunt Pen(elope), the 14-year-old nymph Bobbie upstairs, Bobbie's boyfriend, and even the milkman! And what happened to Susie, who may be the key to everything, but isn't in the cast list? Something's terribly wrong. Who or what is it?

A deeply disturbing story, difficult even to watch, but exceedingly well done for the genre. Difficult to rate because it has zilch entertainment value, but I finally decided to go mainly for the "cinematic" value and give it an 8.

The Reluctant Debutante (1958)

Can you imagine an intelligent American in a film set in Britain?

[10/10 · 5 March 1999]

A very amusing film, often hilarious, and unusually intelligent in every respect. Lansbury is a gem in an essentially despicable role. Harrison and Kendall are great, and other performances match.

Sandra Dee is adorable in an extremely unusual role for a British film, or one set in Britain. She portrays an INTELLIGENT American, or child of British parents who has spent time in the U.S. She commits no faux pas against British customs, does not denounce the nation or its people, does not claim that everything in America is better than anything in the U.K., and in general acts as an intelligent, decent, lovable person. Such roles, as portrayed by Mickey Rooney and nearly all others are an insult to American intelligence, and this picture deserves top ratings for this characterization, even if it didn't for its general overall entertainment value.